[Bf-taskforce25] Questions from incoming non-core developers...

[Campbell Barton]

On Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 6:09 AM, Roland Hess <me at harkyman.com> wrote:
> Since Matt suggested that this stay on-list as a help to others coming
> after, I've decided to write up a couple of questions and requests that
> I think will enable incoming developers get up to speed and help
> continue to speed this project along.
>
> On the existing docs:
> I've read all of the existing documentation for both the design and
> ongoing progress on 2.5, and while they are full of information, they
> don't seem to provide some of the key items that would be needed in
> order for someone to get on board who was neither (1) a hardcore CS
> student, nor (2) one of the developers who has been involved with this
> process for a while. (And if you were able to pick this up without being
> in either of those categories, you're probably better at this than you
> think ;) )
>
> What I (and maybe others) would need in order to start coding:
> (1) A nice, self-contained example of wrapping a DNA struct into RNA.
> I've browsed through and read several of the RNA files, especially the
> one's whose DNA I've coded with before and understand. In addition to
> the RNA def in those files, though, there seem to be already some
> get/setters and iterators, so it leaves me not sure how to proceed. Are
> those additional bits part of the wrapping, or extras put on after the
> wrapping is done to begin to achieve functionality?
>
> So, when some says that "wrapping DNA to RNA is a good place to start,"
> can we have a discreet sample? What would be perfect is a side-by-side
> of the struct DNA from something like a Lamp along with just its RNA
> wrapper. What's needed to get the job done? Are there weird factors we
> need to be aware of (eg. Textures are used in this certain way, so we
> have to wrap them differently), or is this just mostly a mechanical
> procedure we're performing?
>
> (2) A nice, annotated example of tool conversion, if you want help with
> that. Pick one that's been done, show the original code, the new code,
> and give a brief explanation of why it was rewritten in that way. As a
> coder working on tool rewrite, what decisions do we face?
>
> As you can gather, this request is really for some procedural structure
> to the job. The great docs and code that are already there are the data
> -- I (and maybe others) just need a good, annotated example as an actuator.
>
> Thanks!
> Roland
> harkyman
> _______________________________________________
> Bf-taskforce25 mailing list
> Bf-taskforce25 at blender.org
> http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-taskforce25

Hey there
I found looking at Willian's commit that added Camera/RNA enough to get started.
similar with tools, just look at some existing tools, or commits that
add a tool.

Don't want to advocate bad/no docs here, but If someone isn't already
familiar with blenders DNA, I doubt this is a good place for incoming
developers to start.

A howto for adding an RNA struct+props would be good- a checklist of
things to change.
Not sure about operators they are still changing - if details were
documented they would need updating soon.

@Roland, the RNA property and struct definition 'is' the wrapping.
looking through existing RNA files is confusing. Id recommend you go
through the changes in a recent RNA commit to see whats involved with
adding an RNA struct.
http://projects.blender.org/plugins/scmsvn/viewcvs.php?view=rev&root=bf-blender&revision=17627
http://projects.blender.org/plugins/scmsvn/viewcvs.php?view=rev&root=bf-blender&revision=18080

-- 
- Campbell