Lamar Owen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > To put it much more bluntly: PostgreSQL development (both the process > and the codebase) has one of the steepest learning curves around,
The backend hacking curve is certainly steep, but I wonder whether the problem isn't largely one of people biting off more than they can chew. I got my start by hacking some things in libpq, which is way more self-contained than any aspect of the backend; and then started hacking relatively small backend stuff. I think the reason I know as much as I do today is that I've always been willing to investigate minor bugs. No one of them was all *that* exciting, but over time I've had the opportunity to study a lot of the backend code. Nearby you can watch Neil Conway bootstrapping himself by doing minor code beautification projects --- again not that exciting in itself, but useful, and in any case the *real* reason he's doing it is to learn the backend code in general. (Right, Neil?) As against that I notice some new arrivals proposing to add deductive reasoning to Postgres: http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-05/msg01045.php or implement SQL99 hierarchical queries: http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-05/msg01089.php I might be wrong, but I'll bet lunch that neither of those projects will come to anything. You can't run before you learn to crawl. Maybe what we need is some documentation about how to get started as a Postgres hacker --- what to read, what sort of things to tackle for your first hack, etc. I think the people who have been successful around here are the ones who have managed to figure out the syllabus by themselves ... but surely we could try to teach those who come after. regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq
