Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #raylib
Most recents (8)
I'd like to finish my collaboration on @imakefoss with a last thread about a personal reflection about #FOSS and the connection that is created between the developer and the code, after my experience working on #raylib for 7 years and thousands of hours. Opening thread! 1/n
Similar to an artist that puts a part of itself into the created piece of art, same happens with code but I think it is specially noticeable on #FOSS projects, usually originated from passion, a passion to create something to be shared with the world, like #raylib. 2/n
Every #FOSS project includes in some way a piece of the creator, not only its mindset reflected on the way the project is developed (commitment, organization, care for detail, presentation...) but also an emotional component that usually gets unnoticed by the users... 3/n
Hi! Today I'd like to share some thoughts about code quality and deterioration on #FOSS, also related to technical debt, maintainability and product growing. Here it is my experience with #raylib after 7 years working on it... 1/n
When I started raylib, my programming knowledge was not the same than now, I learned many things during this journey and I know there are some pieces of code that should be rewritten from scratch. That requires redesign, implementation and testing... it requires time... 2/n
If that problem happens with a small project like raylib (~50K locs) and requires a fair amount of work to review and redesign, I can't imagine how painful it could be for bigger #FOSS projects with way more years in development. Same happens with closed source project... 3/n
Usually, when checking a #FOSS project on GitHub, project Stars it's the first that draws attention, it could be a nice popularity ref. but, personally, the first info I look for is the project CONTRIBUTORS. I think it's a good sustainability indicator. Let's talk about it! 1/n
At the very end, to keep a #FOSS project alive you need people working on that project. It could be the creator, maintainers or contributors. Anyone putting some time and effort into improving the project is welcome... really? Here my experience with #raylib... 2/n
Contribution to a project usually imply following some rules, that's one reason why a CONTRIBUTING.md file is recommended to be included in the repo: github.com/raysan5/raylib…. That file could also be accompanied by a ROADMAP.md to define the project aim. 3/n
After my last two threads about #raylib #FOSS SUSTAINABILITY and MOTIVATION, today I'm going to talk about a tightly related topic: MONEY. Is it required for the survival of a project? How much is required? What options are available to get some? Here it is my experience... 1/n
Let's talk a bit about MOTIVATION on #FOSS. How much do you need? How can it be maintained?How long can it last? Here it my experience working with #raylib for +7 years... SPOILER: It's not possible to be motivated all the time! 1/n
Original motivation: #raylib started as a weekend project, for my students to learn programming and be able to easily put things on the screen... also view/understand what was happening at a lower level (#opensource)! The idea itself seemed cool enough to motivate me a lot! 2/n
Results motivation: Students loved raylib and they started learning and creating things in just a few weeks... that was a great motivation to keep working, improving the library and adding new features! I received lot of positive feedback and engagement! Very motivating! 3/n
Let's talk about FOSS sustainability. DISCLAIMER: Following personal opinion is based on my experience with #raylib and following multiple gamedev opensoft libraries and tools. My perception: most FOSS out there is hardly sustainable. But let me elaborate a bit on that... 1/n
I believe most #opensource projects originate from an individual passion to create something and share it with the world. That perspective is very different from a comercial product, that is usually conceived to generate some kind of short-term long-term revenue... 2/n
A passion-driven development leads to passion-based decisions and sometimes those decisions do not fit in a bussiness-centered market. I mean, lot of FOSS is not created with revenue in mind, so, trying to make it sustainable after some time is a hard task... 3/n
Writing some code and open source it is usually the easy part of FOSS; making that code clear, accessible, organized, structured... adds a level of complexity; sharing and presenting that code to the world in a proper way suppose an humongous effort. Some details to consider: 1/n
Code tips: KEEP IT SIMPLE. Try to avoid complex code and advance language features, code should be understandable by itself with the minimum comments, keep it organized with clear file naming, add extensive descriptions with details at beginning of code files for reference... 2/n
Some languages allow easier code than others, i.e. I found C lang can be quite easy (and enjoyable) to follow but C++ can be quite complex (specially when using advance language features), making it very difficult for potential contributors to jump into the project code... 3/n
Let me start with a brief introduction of myself to FOSS. Actually, I started developing free and #opensource software with #raylib, it was 7 years ago and at that point I didn't specially care about FOSS, I just knew it was an option for soft development... 1/n
I had created several games and software in the past but it was mostly private, I actually didn't know how to make it "open source", most platforms to publish code looked quite confusing and unfriendly to me, so I hardly considered that option... 2/n
When I started #raylib development in summer 2013 I found a basic library called GLFW (github.com/glfw/glfw) to manage window and inputs, it was open source, zlib/libpng licensed. As far as I was building my software using it, I decided to use the same licensing option... 3/n
