New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: How to proceed with less-than-perfect FOSS projects?
Ask HN: How to proceed with less-than-perfect FOSS projects?
5 by exorbitas | 3 comments on Hacker News.
A few weeks ago I have started to learn Rust. To have a nice "goal" project I decided to develop a CLI-based chess client in the language which should be free and open source. As I was learning enough to get the first steps behind me I opened a github public repository which I have used for development ever since. The project is still far from completion but as I am learning more about the language I can spot minor and major flaws from both design and implementation standpoints. I am unsure how to proceed here, it feels like the standards for FOSS (and any public software) are so high that any less-than-perfect work will reflect badly on me, as I am a part time Software Developer in another language and consider applying for CS PhDs in the next year or so. Do you think it would be best to get rid of the project and delete it, or would it be better to keep it published while continuing to work on it, eventually fixing all flaws? Apart from that I am also not sure how useful it would be to anyone stumbling upon it right now, as it is not yet fully functional and not a good example for learners. Do you think FOSS software should only be published at a point where it bears an actual value to the user? I was publishing early in the hope that other chess enthusiasts might join the development, but I don't think that will happen for the foreseeable future. Thanks for any advice!
5 by exorbitas | 3 comments on Hacker News.
A few weeks ago I have started to learn Rust. To have a nice "goal" project I decided to develop a CLI-based chess client in the language which should be free and open source. As I was learning enough to get the first steps behind me I opened a github public repository which I have used for development ever since. The project is still far from completion but as I am learning more about the language I can spot minor and major flaws from both design and implementation standpoints. I am unsure how to proceed here, it feels like the standards for FOSS (and any public software) are so high that any less-than-perfect work will reflect badly on me, as I am a part time Software Developer in another language and consider applying for CS PhDs in the next year or so. Do you think it would be best to get rid of the project and delete it, or would it be better to keep it published while continuing to work on it, eventually fixing all flaws? Apart from that I am also not sure how useful it would be to anyone stumbling upon it right now, as it is not yet fully functional and not a good example for learners. Do you think FOSS software should only be published at a point where it bears an actual value to the user? I was publishing early in the hope that other chess enthusiasts might join the development, but I don't think that will happen for the foreseeable future. Thanks for any advice!
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