Re: 2nd try at date/format.rb & pty.c

On Aug 20, 2006, at 12:42 PM, James Britt wrote:

> Mat Schaffer wrote:
>> On Aug 19, 2006, at 7:14 PM, James Britt wrote:
>
>>>
>>> I'm unaware of  any mention of  "give it a whirl" on ruby- 
>>> doc.org,  but I get the point.  If someone has some good  
>>> guidelines for  people willing to write docs I'll put them up on  
>>> ruby-doc.org.
>> The "give it a whirl" that I'm paraphrasing is here: http:// 
>> www.ruby- doc.org/stdlib/status.html
>> It's just basically all I've had to go on other than this list  
>> when  trying to become a ruby documenter.  I'd love to see a real  
>> step by  step guide at making really good documentation that will  
>> be accepted  by the ruby core.
>> Let's build some guidlines on the list, and if no-one else beats  
>> me  to it, I'll draft up a guide.  Would you prefer HTML or  
>> textile or  <insert markup here>?
>
> I've started a document on Writely.
>
> People can post comments and suggestions to this list; I'll update  
> the Writely doc.  Anyone interested in editing that doc, please  
> send me your e-mail address and I'll add you as a collaborator.
>
> The public URL for the doc is:
>
> http://www.writely.com/View.aspx?docid=ajjwr9dccrhx_08qfbqt
>
> for those who just want to see what's there.
>
> A nicer version will then make it's way to ruby-doc.org when the  
> main guidelines are covered.


Cool.  But what about building this into more than just guidelines?   
I'd really like to see something akin to "getting started as a ruby  
documenter" unless you see some reason against it.  Start with  
checking out ruby, then links to setup info for stdlib-doc with  
installation pointers.  Finally list the submission guidelines.

Basically, I'd like to see the barrier to entry lowered as much as  
possible here.  Granted, that may cause people to post some bad  
patches here, but I think those will be the exception, and we don't  
have to take every patch submitted.  On the plus side, I could see it  
encouraging some people to come in and fix poorly written  
documentation even if they don't know too much about reading and  
interpreting code.

I'd be happy to add some of that stuff if you give me access.  The  
email address I use for writely is [email protected].
-Mat