[OpenBIOS] INFO: How to contribute to OpenBIOS

[Jeff Garzik]

Niklas Ekström wrote:
> Since I'm not working on OpenBIOS I guess I shouldn't comment on how it
> should be done. But as a general though about programming (and possible
> all intellectual work at all), my opinion is that you should first make a
> strategy and write a design, and first after that start to do the actual
> work (code). When solving a physics problem you don't start by doing
> experiments and first after that find out what the experiments was good
> for, if at all (atleast that's not the way you _should_ do it! ;). From
> the above you can probably guess what I think about the "hack-and-go"
> approach I've seen mentioned here at times.

"hack-and-go" is known more formally as a more iterative approach to
design.  In my experience up-front designs are helpful as roadmaps, but
are _very rarely_ accurate once you reach the end of the road.

As many open source projects have shown, all you need is a
discriminating maintainer in order to succeed, NOT a good design.  A
poor design will show up quickly, and patches from developers will
follow shortly thereafter.  That is what the history of open source
projects have shown so far -- the design gets iteratively better and
better as time passes.

Further, hack-and-go means that results are in the hands of users more
quickly.  And we developers should never forget our target audience, and
their desired results...

	Jeff "hack-and-go" Garzik





-- 
Jeff Garzik         | Andre the Giant has a posse.
Building 1024       |
MandrakeSoft, Inc.  |
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