tl;dr:

Basically, it’s a reminder that those of us that contribute to open source are people.

Longer story:

Here’s what I’ve gathered.

Wayne Seguin made rvm, a way to manage Ruby versions on your box. Sam Stephenson made rbenv, a way to manage Ruby versions on your box.

There was discussion on Hacker News which has some complementary praise for rbenv in varying levels of positiveness.

Wayne Seguin read it and reacted on Twitter at 9:30 a.m. on August 12.

Sam Stephenson asked “Why do open-source programmers take things so personally?”on Twitter at 11:07 a.m. and “You can’t make progress in an environment where egos are more important than ideas.” at 11:12 a.m.

Wayne Seguin responded to the question about why we’re taking things so personally with: “@sstephenson because we’re all persons.” at 1:14 p.m.

I don’t know either of them, and kind of feel like I missed something somewhere. However, I definitely read some hurt feelings there. That’s pretty obvious, right?

Now what?

I’m all about lessons learned. I am someone who enjoys contributing to open source and spends a great deal of my free time doing just that. What can I take from this recent demonstration of a facet of open source?

“Thank you.” Yes. “We’re all persons.” I try to remember that whenever dealing with new contributors. I don’t have a lot of free time but really try to help the person debug his or her environment to get it running, and figure out a good first bug if the person doesn’t have one picked already. I also thank the person for the time put in, though I am not perfect and do forget sometimes.

“Constructive criticism.” I also remember the first time a chunk of my code was rewritten without telling me why. I figured it out but would have liked to have been pinged to fix it myself via constructive criticism. Speaking of criticism, I also try to remember that sometimes we require a thick skin when putting our code and ourselves “out there.” At work, we do code reviews and have to remember that it’s the code being picked apart, not us. It’s probably a little easier there, though, because I know all of my coworkers and how they say things. But, that new person on IRC that’s criticizing how I did something? No.

“Respect diversity.” I sometimes let people assume I’m male on IRC. Why? Because I don’t want to deal with the “omg, ur a girl????” Then, sometimes I make sure it’s known because someone I respect very much reminded me that new women to open source might not realize that we’re here and available to mentor them. I find that I correct more often than not now though with time. Also, diversity isn’t just about gender. There might culture, language, or more barriers we need to overcome in order to contribute and work together.

I’ve seen quite a few blog posts about how to survive (and thrive) in open source. Still, it’s all very personal. “We’re all persons.” So true, Mr. Seguin. So true.

Since finishing my Master’s, I have been looking for “what’s next.” I wanted to do some adjunct work but with travel it’s difficult to do — unless I did it online. So, when I heard about P2PU, I figured that could be a great “what’s next” for me.

Last year, when I heard about them, I first lurked on the mailing lists, and then, because I joined after the deadline to create classes, I signed up in January for some web topics. I still have some sketches for classes I’d like to create because I <3 teaching and learning. Plus, it’s open source and I <3 that too!

I’ve gone from lurking to contributing on a few levels. I not only have finished as a student in a few courses like Ruby on Rails but also created a study group on how to contribute to the code behind the P2PU platform. I also joined the community phone calls when I could and it really helped me “catch up” and see where the project came from and where it was going. Thankfully, they’re around my lunch break so that I can participate.

My time with P2pU has given me lots of growth opportunities, expanded my social (and professional) network, and created a billion blog post ideas. (I even signed up for a blogging and writing study group to help get some of the ideas from my brain onto the Intarwebs.)

But, for now, I have some homework to do in my Django class.

Care to join me? It’s fun and free.

P.S. More about my experiences with P2PU are available via a recent interview by Stefanie Panke.

Contributors come in all shapes and sizes. Even though the gathering of those involved with Ubuntu is called the Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS), it’s not just those that develop code. And the next UDS is May 9-13, 2011 in Budapest, Hungary.

I’m still growing and finding my way in Ubuntu so attended last cycle’s summit remotely. I was really impressed. I already knew the community rocked, but the idea of being able to participate from afar was fantastic. Then I saw that the Community Manager, Jono Bacon, contacted the Ubuntu Women team to make the next UDS even better through diversity. Very nice.

Recently, I watched a presentation about gender distribution in Ruby by Dave Thomas. It illustrated how few women are involved in Ruby and open source. He said that about 47% of the working population are women, and 25% of those that work in computing/mathematics are women. Then, narrowing down further, there are 1.5% women in open source and about 5.6% women attended the conference.

I’m not sure how many women are involved with Ubuntu, but at least 5% of those that have gained membership (a recognition of contribution that one needs to apply for), are women. It’s not 47% but it’s higher than the normal percentage of women in open source.

Alright. Enough with the statistics. What I’m getting at is this: Ubuntu does it right. How can it be even better? For more of the underrepresented community members of Ubuntu to go to the summit. Fortunately, Canonical offers sponsorships for some. And you won’t know if you can get it till you apply.

Why should you apply for sponsorship?

• You’ve been contributing to Ubuntu in some form (not just coding but also community like local teams, design, testing, etc.)
• New this year: an anti-harassment policy (which I hope adds sexual orientation/identity)
• Put faces to the names you’ve seen on mailing lists, forums, and IRC
• There’s sponsorship application help for women by the Ubuntu Women project

I suggest that if you’re interested in applying for sponsorship that you do so soon, especially if you need to get a passport and such!

Here’s to a wonderfully productive, fun, and diverse summit!

1. No time. I can’t attend all conferences. I only have so much time off from work. Is it just me or do most Linux conferences focus on weekends? Some conferences I would love to attend are during the week (Monday – Thursday, for example.) I realize this is probably because companies are paying for employees to go to those. However, not all of us have that. If the conference is far away then that adds more to the time constraint.
2. No money. Like I said, work doesn’t pay for all these conferences I go to so I have to think of the wallet. Some Linux conferences are $1000 less than the other conferences I’m interested in. Example: JavaOne is $1395. And, yes, it’s a weekday one though its weekday begins on Sunday. Ohio LinuxFest is $0 – $350 and Friday-Sunday. That’s why I absolutely love programming and usability sessions at OS conferences.
3. Too many people. Though officially I test either extrovert or introvert depending on the day, the thought of entering a huge room full of people is a bit overwhelming at times. Yes, I admit it. Sometimes, it’s hard to get over that.
4. Not enough people. On the other hand, if it’s a conference that is too small for networking and learning, then it’s best to skip it.
5. Not organized well. If I don’t see an agenda at least 3 weeks in advance, I’m much less likely to go even if it’s only a five hour drive away. Also, I like to see things like speaker bios and a well-thought-out website. It probably means the actual conference is well planned.

Have some other reasons? Please list them! Also, if you have some conferences I should attend, I’d love to hear them!

]]> http://www.jessicaledbetter.com/5-reasons-not-to-attend-conferences/feed/ 1 http://www.jessicaledbetter.com/programming-challenges/ http://www.jessicaledbetter.com/programming-challenges/#comments Sun, 31 Oct 2010 19:10:51 +0000 Jessica http://www.jessicaledbetter.com/?p=600 TopCoder and it sounded like a good idea. Basically, you are presented with a problem and you solve it as quickly as possible. After you submit, you can look at the other contestants' solutions. Here are a few places that I've found where a developer can get coding practice. Continue reading →]]> I’ve been looking for ways to become a better developer. A coworker has done TopCoder and it sounded like a good idea. Basically, you are presented with a problem and you solve it as quickly as possible. After you submit, you can look at the other contestants’ solutions. Here are a few places that I’ve found where a developer can get coding practice.

TopCoder
Languages: Java, C#, C++, and VB.NET
Example: Parse through input speeds and if there are more than 10% of the readings are outside of the range of acceptable speeds, then return that the radar detector is faulty.
How judged: You click submit and it automatically runs. Points are awarded based on the speed from viewing the problem to submission.
Note: Has levels of difficulty. Could advance and win prizes. Since you get to see how other people solved the problem, you might learn new ways of tackling the same problem. You can practice before actually competing by going into Practice Arena Rooms. They have different levels of difficulty ratings as well. If you’re not sure, I suggest going to the practice rooms and starting at a lower number.

Ubuntu – Beginner Programming Challenges
Languages: Any free language (Python, C++, Perl, C, Java, PHP, etc.)
Example: Print out 99 bottles of beer song
How judged: By hand and checks to make sure it works and doesn’t print extra information.
Note: Because someone is looking at this and your solution is posted to the thread, others can comment and help you become a better coder. For example, one person was told to use more meaningful variable names.

CodeChef
Languages: C, C++, Perl, Python, Java, etc. Says over 35+ languages but mostly saw C and C++.
Example: Someone can ask you for a certain amount of money. If the person can find a subset of the money you have that is how much the person asked for, then the person gets that money you have.
How judged: Done by computer. Should run within a certain time.
Note: Can see the successful solution submissions. Has the language listed so you can just look at ones for the lanauges you’re interested in. I saw a lot of C/C++.

Programming Praxis
Languages: All but saw some Haskell, Python, Ruby, Scheme, F#. If people didn’t label what language, I would have had a problem figuring out which one since there are so many.
Example: Find the smallest prime Fibonacci number greater than a given input number.
How judged: Not judged.
Note: Has levels of difficulty. They say the problems are supposed to take about an hour. There are no points. No winning. Just practice. You can see all solutions before you post your own. Sample solutions are in Scheme.

Project Euler
Languages: Python, Haskell, Java, C/C++, Ruby. Stats
Example: Add all the natural numbers below one thousand that are multiples of 3 or 5.
How judged: Is the output correct.
Note: The more people that have solved a problem, the easier it probably is. You put in the answer to the problem so you don’t get judged on your code or see other people’s submissions. [edit] You can see solutions on clojure-euler wikispace. Thanks, Michel!

Python Challenge [added: 11/1/2010]
Languages: Python (though I’ve been doing the first few in Java)
Example: Picture of a number and a hint (try to change the URL address.)
How judged: Not judged except that you advance to the next level in the “game.”
Note: If you need more hints than are on the page, there’s a forum. Also, once you finish the puzzle/riddle/challenge, you can see some solution code from the previous level.

Below are contests where you can’t see others’ submissions

Facebook Puzzles
Languages: C/C++, Erlang, Java, Haskell, Perl, Php, Python, Ruby, OCami. Has versions listed.
Example: Write a program that takes as input a single argument on the command line. This argument must be a file name, which contains a single positive integer. The program should read this file and obtain the integer within, and then output a sequence of strings based upon the number.
How judged: Submit the code to an email address at Facebook.
Note: Has difficulty levels. Since you’re submitting it, I didn’t see how you could see other solutions. But, you could get hired at Facebook so that’s neat. If you’re looking to get hired by doing puzzles, here’s another one at ITA Software.

Coding Bat
Languages: Java and Python
Example: Given an array of ints, return true if 6 appears as either the first or last element in the array. The array will be length 1 or more.
How Judged: You type the code into their window. Then it’ll compile and run it. Shows the test cases and whether or not the code passed them.
Note: Pretty easy problems. I didn’t see how you can see other solutions but you did get instant feedback on whether or not your solution passes the test cases.

Sphere Online Judge
Languages: C, C++, Java, Python, Ruby, etc.
Example: Rewrite small numbers from input to output. Stop processing input after reading in the number 42. All numbers at input are integers of one or two digits.
Note: Submit problem by pasting in solution or uploading file and it’s an online judge system so automatically grades the solution. After submitting, you then go to the status page to see the result.

Code Golf
Languages: Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby
Example: 99 Bottles of beer
How judged: Pass the test cases, then based on number of characters in the code. I wouldn’t code like that for real though. Can you imagine all the one character variable names? Ick! But, still, sounds fun.

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