Board index FlightGear Development

Want to help contribute? Training provided

FlightGear is opensource, so you can be the developer. In the need for help on anything? We are here to help you.
Forum rules
Core development is discussed on the official FlightGear-Devel development mailing list.

Bugs can be reported in the bug tracker.

Want to help contribute? Training provided

Postby Avionyx » Tue Jan 08, 2019 3:56 pm

Job advert.
FGUK are in part an open Flying group and also a Aircraft Development team for FlightGear Flight Simulator.
We are looking for a 3d modeller and a Nasal code person to join the FGUK Development team.
We will also provide assistance, support and direction to those who might not have these skills but are willing to learn - even if you've never done any before.

We operate an equal pay policy and you will receive the same pay and benefits as the senior Development team members - zero.
If you are interesting in exercising your 3d modelling or code skills in your spare time, please contact us.
Avionyx
 
Posts: 531
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:07 pm
Location: EGMD
Callsign: G-AVYX
Version: 2020.4
OS: Manjaro

Re: Want to help contribute? Training provided

Postby Hooray » Tue Jan 08, 2019 4:18 pm

Indeed, that's a very nice idea - and overlapping with other "mentoring" efforts.
As a matter of fact, I have previously suggested similar JVs previously.
The most recent one being in the "ATC scenarios" / "tutorials" topics.

Thus, may I politely suggest that the form of "mentoring" or "tutoring" provided is not specific to off-forum exchanges ?

The point being, many of the people around here may not necessarily be FGUK users.

However, I've seen numerous interesting topics discussed over there.
Also, I am aware of many private discussions taking place here that might be of interest to FGUK, and presumably that also applies vice versa ?

Thus, would it not make sense to identify overlapping interests and requirements ?
For instance, I've been toying with the idea of coming up with a stripped-down "curriculum" (for the lack of a more appropriate term).

For starters, this would cover the very basic stuff, such as key terminology, and key concepts:
  • base package
  • variables like fg_root, fg_home
  • the property tree
  • property browser
  • propertylist xml files

For starters, I ended up creating a custom navigation bar, using only certain wiki articles, with selected topics added according to ascending complexity in mind.

I have also been in touch with other users who seem to be interested in the idea.

My point being that documentation isn't exactly our greatest forte - however, there have many forums/websites that simply ended up disappearing over time - which is to say, that using the flightgear wiki/forum, or even dedicated README files for $FG_ROOT/Docs might be the best way to bootstrap this, possibly in conjunction with dedicated PDF files for $FG_ROOT/Docs ?

The idea we have been discussing behind the scenes was creating some really basic tutorials (as per the topics mentioned above), but without assuming much/anything - i.e. doing really simple stuff like creating a text file, saving it, and opening it again.

And then, one of the next tutorials would cover finding your fg_root/fg_home directories, by using the built-in property tree browser and viewing files in those places (without changing them), while the next step would introduce XML editors.

These would obviously be rather basic tutorials, but they would be simple to create (for any of us), and even newcomers could get easily involved - e.g. by adding screen shots to each tutorial.

I've also been in touch with people who regularly create fgfs related youtube videos, and who said that they might be interested in turning such SHORT tutorials into annotated video tutorials.

My opinion is that this could be a great opportunity for all of us, because we would be creating resources that would benefit all of us, without being specific to any particular effort or team of people.

Michat also offered to help with custom artwork that could be used to create some nice graphics to make things more appealing, and less technical.

Obviously, we would need a few newcomers involved to make this happen, because most of us long-timers have come to use a language that may make too many assumptions about the reader/viewer.

Anyway, I believe that this could be a very worthwhile goal to work towards, and it not being specific to any particular team or project, would mean that people getting involved in this, would in fact be making a "timeless" contribution - while also sparing all of us quite some time walking newcomers through these basics over and over again.

Like I said, I would suggest to keep it really simple, as in creating/saving and opening plain text files, and then take things from there.

More specific mentoring/tutoring could obviously still take place afterwards, but at the very least, we would end up with a series of wiki/forum or youtube tutorials that could turn potential contributors into people who are familiar with fgfs concepts, such as:

  • creating, saving and opening plain text files
  • navigating $FG_HOME and $FG_ROOT respectively
  • creating, saving and editing PropertyList XML files
  • property tree / property browser
  • bindings (fgcommands
  • Nasal Console

I think that this would be easy to cover given the resources and manpower we have already. Likewise, I think that these skills could be considered the foundation for anybody wanting to get involved in adding/changing features.

Obviously, nothing here is set in stone, I am just testing the waters and looking to see if there are others who might be interested in getting involved in something like this.

Again, this is not to distract from any other mentoring/tutoring efforts (FGUK or others), it's just because I think there are overlapping interests and we don't need to reinvent the wheel actually.

In other words, teaming up (even if just temporarily) to bootstrap such a set of "tutorials" could actually be good for any mentoring efforts, in the future, because these tutorials would cover topics that could be considered "fundamentals".

Equally, I do realize that some people may need/want a more direct/interactive experience (forum, PM, eMail, skype, video chat etc) - but even then, having a set of tutorial resources would still be good to have, so that we can make certain assumptions, as well as pointers to point newcomers to.
Please don't send support requests by PM, instead post your questions on the forum so that all users can contribute and benefit
Thanks & all the best,
Hooray
Help write next month's newsletter !
pui2canvas | MapStructure | Canvas Development | Programming resources
Hooray
 
Posts: 12707
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:40 am
Pronouns: THOU

Re: Want to help contribute? Training provided

Postby StuartC » Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:39 am

We have a new Nasal guy now, but we are still looking for a 3d modeller.
StuartC
 
Posts: 3168
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 9:18 pm
Location: Arse end of the Universe
Callsign: WF01
Version: 2019.1
OS: W10 64 bit

Re: Want to help contribute? Training provided

Postby RobAndrew » Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:04 pm

StuartC wrote in Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:39 am:We have a new Nasal guy now, but we are still looking for a 3d modeller.



...That could potentially be me....I've just started learning on Blender and am in the process of making A CHAIR!

You may find someone else more experienced than I am, with more time on their hands though
RobAndrew
 
Posts: 137
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2018 5:59 pm
Version: 2020.
OS: Windows 10

Re: Want to help contribute? Training provided

Postby Johan G » Sun Aug 25, 2019 4:10 pm

A post was split off to the new topic FlightGear documentation, core and other.
Low-level flying — It's all fun and games till someone looses an engine. (Paraphrased from a YouTube video)
Improving the Dassault Mirage F1 (Wiki, Forum, GitLab. Work in slow progress)
Some YouTube videos
Johan G
Moderator
 
Posts: 6625
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 6:33 pm
Location: Sweden
Callsign: SE-JG
IRC name: Johan_G
Version: 2020.3.4
OS: Windows 10, 64 bit


Return to Development

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests