[Bf-committers] post on coding in a large project

[Tom M]

I'm trying to find the author of this post, since it would be nice to
use in the wiki blender developer manual, but the link is no longer in
the database...  if the author is on here, please email me.

LetterRip

http://blender.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=5751

Coding in a big project could look very intimidating. But its like
refitting a new door in a big house. You don't need to know what the
blueprint of the whole house looks like, you need to know only some
specific things about the hinges and the dimensions the door should
have.
In a former job I was a service support enigineer and part of my job
was to debug and change/ add code to a warehouse management software.
It is a very complex program capapble of automating the logistics and
opperating the machinery in a factory. But when you delve in the code
all I do is identify where in the code I should be, look at what the
function of the code is, placing a few debug lines here and there. In
this manner I can isolate the part of the code I should be working on.

So is Blender. The documentation give some pointers about the
architecture. There are some very good discussions on forums. You can
study how existing code works. Suppose you want to implement something
totaly knew.. like say "Anisotropic Polygonal Remeshing a.k.a Direct
Anisitropic Quad-Dominant Remeshing". The way I would handle is to
identify a function in Blender that does a similar thing. That
function is "Convert to quads" or "Convert to triangles". I will study
it where it fits and what it does in reference to the architecture and
then I could add it as a function in Blender.

Ofcourse you should adept in the C language. There are a lot of
resources on the web to help you with it, it shouldn't be difficult to
find them. For more specific questions, you should ask questions at
the IRC.