SDC needs you

[weaselcat via Digitalmars-d]

On Thursday, 16 April 2015 at 15:47:10 UTC, bachmeier wrote:
> 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.


Relating to the first part of your post,
While it may seem daunting, I found the D community extremely 
helpful and welcoming to new people submitting PRs. Just make 
sure you mention you're new to contributing to D in your PR.