Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code?

sine has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by GrandFather (Saint) on Feb 21, 2007 at 01:37 UTC
I suggest you browse the SoPW nodes and try your hand at some of the problems presented there (you even get model answers ;) ). Among the SoPWs you will find a few 'challenges' such as Challenge: "Insanity" Cube Puzzle, Challenge: Egg Timer Puzzles, Challenge: 2D random layout of variable-sized rectangular units. and Challenge: Predictive Texting that may prove useful exercise. DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel	[reply]
Re^2: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by sine (Sexton) on Feb 21, 2007 at 03:47 UTC
Thanks GrandFather, Those exercices look very challenging and will definitely help me improve my Perl. Cheers Sine	[reply]
Re: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by chromatic (Archbishop) on Feb 21, 2007 at 05:35 UTC
Parrot has lots of bite-sized tasks for people who know some Perl. Stop by #parrotcode at irc.perl.org for guidance.	[reply]
Re: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by kabeldag (Hermit) on Feb 21, 2007 at 04:08 UTC
Hey Sine, Just because your workplace doesn't currently use Perl, doesn't mean Perl itself isn't of importance, because plenty do. You should of course install Perl yourself on your home machine(s) and learn it for yourself. Once you build up a decent knowledge base of Perl, you will begin to see processes at work that you can automate using Perl, bringing efficiency to the workplace. Not only that, you may even get creative and begin to see other non-work related applications that you can create yourself because Perl is extremely flexible from design to implementation. I highly recommend Perl as it stimulates the mind, the syntax is not uncommon, and you learn more about different environments due to its wide application possibilities. Oh yeah, Perlmonks.org is a great learning environment as well.	[reply]
Re^2: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by sine (Sexton) on Feb 22, 2007 at 00:59 UTC
Thanks for your advice kabeldag, I have started installing Perl already on ly local machine and will definitely keep on trying on using it. :-) And yes you're right, perlmonnks is a great place to learn. Cheers Sine	[reply]
Re^2: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by oblate kramrdc (Acolyte) on Feb 21, 2007 at 18:42 UTC
I agree with kabeldag! I'm still learning PERL and I'm loving it! I am new at our company and they are not using PERL but most of the solutions to our projects could easily be done in PERL. So, my coworkers wants to learn PERL! LOL	[reply]
Re: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by zakame (Pilgrim) on Feb 21, 2007 at 03:24 UTC
Hi, and welcome to PerlMonks! :D Like you, I'm more or less of a newbie, and I enjoy writing Perl as both a hobby and as a way to keep bread on the table. One way I've found Perl to be truly useful is when I'm faced with some problem that no solution would be found otherwise, or whenever existing solutions fail to meet my needs. Most of the time, though, there is a ``right'' solution (sometimes not even in Perl) that fits my bill, and by discovering how that solution works give me a lot of ideas of better programming practice, and, especially if its a Perl solution, exposes me to its showcase of useful tidbits and idioms. I'm currently in the process of incubating a solution for one of my projects, and even in this process I see potential to start another project addressing a different issue. I think you may have heard of the saying "build it, and they will come;" and build I do, and when it's ready, I'll post links. :D	[reply]
Re^2: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by sine (Sexton) on Feb 21, 2007 at 03:49 UTC
Thanks zakame Don't hesitate to post your links when you finish your project. I would really like to see what it's about. Cheers Sine	[reply]
Re: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Feb 21, 2007 at 13:38 UTC
I have been asking for a new maintainer for PDF::Template. I have received some offers, but there's a lot of work to be done on it. I'd love for someone to help out with documentation, particularly in terms of writing a manual separate from the POD on the given nodes. Feel free to contact me if this sounds interesting. My criteria for good software: Does it work? Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?	[reply]
Re^2: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by sine (Sexton) on Feb 22, 2007 at 01:08 UTC
Hi dragonchild, I'm definitely interested in helping with the new maintainer for the PDF::template module documentation.:-) I just want to tell you that I never did that before. Is there any documentation about the way you document things in Perl I should read first?	[reply]
Re^3: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by blazar (Canon) on Feb 25, 2007 at 10:56 UTC
I'm definitely interested in helping with the new maintainer for the PDF::template module documentation.:-) I just want to tell you that I never did that before. Is there any documentation about the way you document things in Perl I should read first? To learn how to write POD documentation, just read perldoc perlpod. To learn what to put in it, you may want to see what other CPAN modules do, or check previous discussions here. Since it's not easy to come up with good search terms, one interesting such discussion that I remember of is POD Standards.	[reply]
Re: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by jesuashok (Curate) on Feb 21, 2007 at 02:16 UTC
welcome to monks !!! you can fine lot of opensource projects here. Browse through the link and find the projects developed using perl. start contributing to this projects from your basic understandings. Because you can find lot of complex projects too.	[reply]
Re^2: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by sine (Sexton) on Feb 21, 2007 at 03:45 UTC
Thanks for the tip jesuashok. :-) That web site is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for the quick reply as well. Cheers Sine	[reply]
Re^3: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by avar (Beadle) on Feb 23, 2007 at 18:56 UTC
I wouldn't go with sourceforge if I were you, simply because the projects there are either dead or successful. The latter being bad because that almost always equals a large codebase, which is not necessarily what you want to be wrapping your head around at first. New projects though...	[reply]
Re: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by klekker (Pilgrim) on Feb 21, 2007 at 09:24 UTC
Ovid posted in 99 Problems in Perl6 a link to 99 lisp problems I guess some problem are quite interessting (and worth) to solve with Perl (5). k	[reply]
Re: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by wizbancp (Sexton) on Feb 21, 2007 at 08:45 UTC
Hi Sine! Like you I'm also a newbie in Perl programming (just about 3 weeks...). I study Perl for a work stage where i was employed. I to day study a code that someone develop here, and hope to understand all the work done before...:-) I've been amazed by the powerful characteristics of RegExp; they save a lot of work and code writing!:-) I hope to increase my knowledge of Perl, just to understand the wonder of Obfuscated Code here in the Monastery... So long, and good luck on your "Perl journey"! P.s. Excuse me always for my English :-) <-----------------> Feel the Dark Power of Regular Expressions...	[reply]
Re^2: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by sine (Sexton) on Feb 22, 2007 at 00:56 UTC
Thanks for your warm welcome. :-) It's good to see that I'm not the only newbie out there. Good luck to you too! Cheers Sine	[reply]
Re: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by rkrieger (Friar) on Feb 21, 2007 at 16:09 UTC
> That's why I'm looking for to be involved in any kind of projects related to Perl. > I would love to help (for free) in any way I can [...] Perhaps the Perl Apprenticeship Site is something you'd be interested in, although it only contains ~20 projects at the point I last checked. Originally, I picked it up while reading O'Reilly's book on HTML::Mason. Of course, as others have suggested, Perlmonks can provide ample inspiration ;)	[reply]
Re^2: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by sine (Sexton) on Feb 22, 2007 at 00:49 UTC
Thanks for the tip rkrieger. :-) I didn't know about that web site. This looks very intersting. I'll check it out a little bit further to see if I can find somehting I can be involved in. Thanks again Cheers Sine	[reply]
Re: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by Anonymous Monk on Feb 24, 2007 at 14:33 UTC
Hi Sine, I would say you are aspiring too much for a beginner. Do no spend your time for perl community activities when you have to tread a long way in the course of learning perl. Buy a good book on perl and go through all the pages, try out all examples, implement each example in your own way by using already learnt features. This may take a year or more. It is not so easy and require perseverance. Best wishes. Anil PS: Simon Cozen's "Beginning Perl" is an extremely good book. Available online in the form of pdf documents.	[reply]
Re^2: Does anyone need a newbie to help testing or documenting or even writing code? by blazar (Canon) on Feb 25, 2007 at 11:03 UTC
Hi Sine, I would say you are aspiring too much for a beginner. Although your node got downvoted, I second that: while it's remarkably good that the OP wants to improve his Perl skills by contributing free help on existing projects, it's almost certainly a little bit premature as of a very beginner. Sometimes good will is not enough. He may want to improve his skills in some other way first, e.g. like GrandFather suggested, and then he would be ready to further improve them the way he's thought of in a manner that would be productive both for him and for the projects themselves. IMHO that would be a more efficient use of his good will; otherwise the attempt may even result in frustration...	[reply]