SDC needs you

[bachmeier via Digitalmars-d]

On Thursday, 16 April 2015 at 04:05:19 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu 
wrote:
> On 4/15/15 8:42 PM, Joakim wrote:
>> On Wednesday, 15 April 2015 at 08:13:20 UTC, deadalnix wrote:
>>> OK, do not expect SDC to compile your code yet, but it got to 
>>> a point
>>> where the base is fairly stable, and thing can get better. I 
>>> compiled
>>> a list of high impact items, ranging from relatively easy bug 
>>> fixes,
>>> to compiler guru level.
>>>
>>> https://github.com/deadalnix/SDC/wiki/TODO-list
>>>
>>> If some of you want to contribute, that'd be awesome. SDC can 
>>> happen,
>>> and you can be a part of this, so go cloning the repo now :)
>>
>> That's a nice list to get more people involved.  I've been
>> calling for Andrei/Walter to put up a similar list on the D 
>> wiki,
>> with specific issues they think need dealing with or that would
>> be pre-approved.
>
> Forgive my being skeptical but my repeated appeals to 
> contributions - most of them important, urgent, and of high 
> impact - sometimes labeled with [WORK] in this forum, have been 
> answered by the same very small kernel of contributors 
> (including Walter and myself), regardless of their difficulty 
> (sometimes trivial). Lists, labels, management techniques that 
> are touted in this forum every few months or so - no avail. The 
> vision document that everybody asked about? Read and dutifully 
> ignored - back to the next naming debate. The sad reality is 
> that if one of about a handful of core folks doesn't do it, it 
> won't get done. My resolution is to do more of everything; that 
> way more of everything will get done. -- Andrei

In my case I don't know where to start. I'll leave the Phobos and 
compiler code to the experts, but I'm sure I can help with 
documentation. On my own small projects, I can clone a repo, make 
a small change, and create a pull request. If it were that 
simple, I'd already be contributing to the documentation, because 
the things that need improvement aren't hard to find.

Unfortunately I have no idea how to get started. All I can find 
is this:

"The source code for the D website, compiler, runtime library, 
and Phobos (the standard library), are all available on GitHub. 
Contributions to the source code are done via pull requests. 
Please note that contributions to DMD source code will only be 
accepted if the author agrees to have the copyright of the code 
assigned to Digital Mars.

To find something to work on, you can search the bug list for 
issues that you can help fix, or view the most-voted-for issue 
list."

How do I make changes to the documentation and then test them? 
How do I know that I'm not wasting my time? What guidelines am I 
supposed to follow?

Rather than open that can of worms, I spend my scarce time 
working on my own D libraries and showing my coauthors/students 
how to use them. The problem may be a steep learning curve 
combined with a lack of clarity about what is expected. I don't 
think the problem is that the rest of us are simply unwilling to 
contribute.