Re: Plans for future releases and call for contributions

Posted by Xiaoming Lai on
URL: http://quantlib.414.s1.nabble.com/Plans-for-future-releases-and-call-for-contributions-tp9272p9273.html

Luigi & all,

I know it is a late reply.
But today when I got time to review the historical emails, I think that it is a time for me to contribute something back to the project.

I had kept an eye on this project for more than three years, I really learned a lot from all people and project itself.

I will work the mortgage pricing as the start.

Thanks,
Xiaoming

----- Original Message -----
From: "Luigi Ballabio" <[hidden email]>
To: "QuantLib developers" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 10:27 PM
Subject: [Quantlib-dev] Plans for future releases and call for contributions


>
> Hi all,
>    first of all, I'd like to say thanks to everybody who helped us
> releasing QuantLib 0.4.0 (as well as all previous releases) by
> contributing code, bug reports, comments---you name it. It's been a
> great six years.
>
> This year, we're planning to finally take the next step and release
> QuantLib 1.0.  I'll draft a plan and ask for specific contributions
> later in this post; but before that, please let me share a few thoughts.
>
> Lately I started to have the feeling that our development model has
> reached its limit. Until now, development of the library has been pushed
> forwards by a few dedicated individuals and by occasional contributions
> by other people. However, there's only so much that this can achieve; as
> witnessed, to name a couple of examples, by the lack of user
> documentation and my systematic delay in answering posts to the mailing
> lists.
>
> In short, we need to foster a community. We didn't give much effort to
> this so far; actually, I'm afraid we (the core developers) might have
> scared potential contributors away. Until now, we have had a somewhat
> cavalier attitude---when we wanted to do something, we just opened our
> editors and IDEs and started hacking. (Me? Guilty as charged.)
> Unfortunately, this might give the impression that the library is our
> playground and discourage people from entering our supposedly closed
> club.
>
> This will have to change. I'll try and bounce ideas on the developer
> mailing list before any major change. Of course, I also encourage the
> other developers to do the same---kudos to those that already do. In
> short, I'll do my best so that the library is owned (and felt as such)
> by the whole community gravitating around the mailing lists.
>
> Enough---and onwards to the plan for release 1.0.
>
> My idea (open to discussion, of course) was to get to 1.0 in two or
> three releases. The ones before 1.0 will give us a chance to make
> changes we've intended to do for quite a while, but that could not be
> done easily in a backward-compatible way. Some of them were made
> already.
>
> The next step would be QuantLib 1.0. In fact, the release before that
> one (0.9.0?) would almost be a beta release of 1.0. I wouldn't change
> much between the two; instead, I would focus on improving documentation
> and general usability (a task which should already start for the
> upcoming releases.)
>
> Needless to say, all such releases (as well as future ones) will need
> your contribution. You don't need to do anything exceptional; each of
> you can help by giving as little time and effort you can afford or want
> to spare.
>
> The easiest way to contribute would be to subscribe to the QuantLib-dev
> mailing list (the subscription page can be found at
> <https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/quantlib-dev>.) As I said,
> we'll try and discuss future developments there. Your contribution to
> the discussions, even if only an occasional one, will be useful.
>
> If you think you can get more involved, there's a number of other things
> you can do - apart from contributing code or patches to the library, of
> course. A few of them are:
>
> - answer questions on the QuantLib-users mailing list;
>
> - subscribe to the QuantLib-cvs mailing list and review the changes
>  committed to the repository. You might ask questions about the
>  change, make further suggestions, or report a bug you spotted. I'll
>  try and setup the mailing list so that replies to posts go to
>  QuantLib-dev.
>
> - provide examples. Those are easier to write than new parts of the
>  library, and are immensely useful to new users as they can act as
>  documentation of library features and their usage. If you don't have
>  the time to provide examples, you can still contribute by writing to
>  QuantLib-dev and proposing examples to be written by whoever accepts
>  the task.
>
> - We might put some kind of cookbook on the wiki (we'll have to
>  discuss the idea on the list.) In this case, you might provide code
>  snippets exemplifying how to perform simple (or less simple)
>  tasks. This would require less effort than full-fledged examples.
>
> All of the above are ways to contribute. Even if contributions were
> little, their cumulative effect would be a great help to improve the
> library. Moreover, each of the above are also ways to familiarize with
> the library and in time to become able to work on its internals.
>
> Thanks for listening. Comments are welcome.
>
> Later,
>        Luigi
>
>
> ----------------------------------------
>
> fix, n.,v.
> What one does when a problem has been reported too many times
> to be ignored.
> -- the Jargon file
>
>
>
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