[Xcb] _Problems_ in GSoC, 2011

[Josh Triplett]

On Tue, Jun 07, 2011 at 10:31:49AM +0530, vikash agrawal wrote:
> Hello Everyone and Josh,
> First of all, I am working very slowly and I apologise for that
> But from past few days I am facing several problems. I was trying to
> understand c_client.py but there are several variables that I couldn't
> figure out, I wasnt able to get the complete senseof these variables
> correctly as a result I coudnt understand it to the best [ Having a small
> description on variables name and there usage, in the file like fmt, idx or
> functions like _n or _c_type_setup would serve the very purpose and would
> also act as a documentation on the same. On some instances I tried to
> comment the code but did fail as a whole]
>  I was very scared and worried too today, with my work and understandability
> of the code [ Being my first open source contribution, I am really nervous
> ]
> As a result I mailed Christopher R [ He has always helped me and I do thank
> him for that ] and contacted pharris on IRC. A vote of thanks to both of you
> for guiding me and solving catering my needs.
> 
> Finally I have thought to make up a small schedule for some time ( say till
> my next milestone )
> 
>    -     As per pharris, I will start with something small like shape.xml or
>    something else.
>    -     I will compile it and then try to understand the generation on
>    shape.h and shape.c
>    -     [ Will I need to write test cases ? ] [ if yes the should I go for
>    python or C and is there a supporting link for this ]
>    -     Say, if I understand it then I will move to xproto.xml, ( or
>    xkb.xml )
>    -     This patch might take some time for me as I have to start from
>    scratch all over again
>    -     After this I will once again shift to c_client.py. [ If a
>    description can be documented then it would be of great help ]
> 
> Please let me know if I am going wrong some where, I might also shoot many
> questions in near future

Compiling a simple extension will definitely help you understand how the
code generation works.  However, once you understand how the code
generation works, don't immediately move on to a more complex extension;
instead, see if you can use what you've learned on the small extension
to experiment with modifying the code generator to see how it works.

Again, you don't have to do all the learning before you do any of the
coding; you can learn as you go.  Good lesson to learn for Open Source
in general: there's always more to learn, and if you try to learn
everything before you do anything, you won't manage to accomplish what
you want to do.

As far as test cases, you can just run the code generator and see if it
produces the right results; if you need help figuring out what the
expected results look like, or whether you've gotten closer to reaching
them, ask on the list and we can help you figure that out.

- Josh Triplett