Contributor Hello Terasology

[Margretor]

Hello, here is a quick introduction of myself:

• Name: Mihalache Octavian
• Social: Margretor @Github @IRC
• From: Romania, currently studying Computer Science at Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania
• Skills / Tools: Java (Eclipse/Android Studio), C++, C, Linux
• Found via: Google Summer of Code 2016
• Interests: Applying study skills into real world project such as this.
• Extra: Usually when I want to learn something thorough, I have to do it the hard way, so this project is a great chance to learn something new and contribute to a great idea. Also I also have played Minecraft (Industrial craft 2 I have built some nice reactors), so Terasology caught my attention very quickly.

I look forward to being a part of this project as a contributor. I would like to work on ‘Improve visibility of missing resource scenarios’ task. I would like to have a continuous contribution to this project even after the GSoC is finished.

 

[Skaldarnar]

Hey @Margretor and welcome to the forum! Good to have you here

 

[Cervator]

Hi @Margretor !

#1402 is a very open item, lots of little areas that could involve. Pretty much analytics in various shapes and sizes. It could start with simply pointing out better at code build time or runtime when some resources are unavailable, and lead into a full error reporting framework using our CrashReporter in new and interesting ways.

Do you have much experience with unit testing, other forms of automated testing, code analysis, validating file formats like JSON or XML, tracking error reports, anything like that?

 

[Margretor]

Hi @Cervator I have some experience with JUnit from a bunch of projects done at the University. I am familiar with XML and JSON formats as I had to write several parsers so I am familiar with the format requirements. As for tracking error reports, I have a bit of experience, last summer I had an intership as software tester @EA and I was tracking error reports and collaborate with the programming team to solve them. Also I am open to other Issues/Proposals if the community thinks it fits me better.

 

[Cervator]

Awesome! That all sounds great. Any kind of familiarity with the topics makes it that much easier to get started

When you have time you could give this thread a read as well: http://forum.terasology.org/threads/the-world-of-varied-and-noteworthy-achievements.1209/

That whole concept is bringing automated testing to a next level, along with interesting visualizations.

Any of that along with the original issue you identified should be good material for a GSOC proposal. There is a lot more than could be fit in to a single summer, so it will be about identifying some interesting pieces you think you could do well at (and if you then continue after GSOC that's a great overall area to become an expert at). The scanning for resources at build time or runtime is a good start, it is probably just a little small on its own

 

[Margretor]

Thank you @Cervator I will read the thread and I look forward to discuss the proposal and how to get effectively started.

 

[Cervator]

Contributor badge sent your way for translation work! Thanks again

Let me / us know whenever if you have more questions or would like some guidance for what to work on next.

I added a comment to the GSOC issue you expressed an interest in that relates to translation: we often end up breaking the link between translation strings in weblate/code and their actual use in the UI. There must be a way we can easily detect that through build / runtime scanning of some sort, then report on it. I submitted a new issue specifically for some strings that seem to have fallen out of use for the graphic presets - might be something to look at

 

[Margretor]

I would like some guidance if possible, regarding my next task. Also I will have a look at the translation issues, it might be some enum or something similar that caused that (#2207) and I will try to come with a solution to detect any similar issues.

 

[Cervator]

We talked on IRC and GitHub today, let me know if you need more sometime