Re: I'd like to help
On Tue, 21 Dec 1999, matt wrote: Hello, Hello! My name is Matt. I'm out of Florida, USA. I would like to tackle a couple of things that it seems need to be done. 1: First, it seems that in the export section, the Postscript@ stuff needs to be implemented more directly(as opposed to through the printing material). This has been a pretty low priority for us since I think we're all happy to live with it. However, it could certainly be cleaned up and should be a fairly simple task for you as a first step into the LyX world. Don't be afraid to ask questions -- no matter how silly they are. If they're really dumb like some of mine have been everyone politely ignores them (unless it's a Friday) and you get to figure it out for yourself. 2: After that is accomplished, it occurs to me that by implementing ps2pdf we could very rapidly implement conversion to pdf! A very useful export format for me and hopefully others. We've had a discussion about this about a month ago and it seems like a much better idea to use pdflatex and there are also have a few other concerns related to pdf generation -- like which fonts are used -- so it was decided that a pdf mode would be a better idea. I can also add that from my experience pstopdf does a better job that pdf2ps so a pdf mode is the way to go offering ps output as an export option instead of the other way around. Please take a look at the archives before diving into this one. Also I know Lars has some good ideas for this and I was also going to take a look at setting some groundwork for this since I too need pdf output occasionally. I am a LOUSY c++ programmer and will probably work on this forever. But I am willing to work on it! If you're willing to accept instruction and constructive criticism you'll find your C++ skills improving as a result of sending in patches. I certainly know my skills have improved over the last three years and I'm still learning. It would also be wise to stick to little projects initially. I can recommend fixing annoying bugs and seg-faults/aborts as a very good way of getting to know the LyX code. Although you'll probably quickly realise that some of the code that's already there isn't "guru" quality so you'd be welcome to offer patches cleaning things up or at least questioning why things are implemented in a particular way. Any suggestions would be helpful. Knowing you guys you have already implemented this and I'm too late. Not implemented yet but certainly discussed. One of the things we probably should attempt to do is gather up the discussions into a project document so anyone who wants to tackle it can have a headstart and see what everyone has already decided is A Good Thing. There are a number of these sorts of projects -- discussed but not documented and not underway yet. Oh and I mustn't forget to mention that you should read the coding rules documentation in development/Code_rules/. Can you use cvs to get updates and to generate patches? If you don't have the ability to run cvs then you will be at a distinct disadvantage. Although in such a case a patch against the latest prerelease would have to suffice and one of the developers would have to take care of merging your code. This isn't too much a problem though just inconvenient. Thanks for your time. Thanks for _your_ time! Did you see the Christmas present discussion from yesterday/earlier today? Allan. (ARRae)
Re: I'd like to help
On Tue, 21 Dec 1999, matt wrote: > Hello, Hello! > My name is Matt. I'm out of Florida, USA. I would like to tackle a > couple of things that it seems need to be done. > 1: First, it seems that in the export section, the Postscript@ stuff > needs to be implemented more directly(as opposed to through the printing > material). This has been a pretty low priority for us since I think we're all happy to live with it. However, it could certainly be cleaned up and should be a fairly simple task for you as a first step into the LyX world. Don't be afraid to ask questions -- no matter how silly they are. If they're really dumb like some of mine have been everyone politely ignores them (unless it's a Friday) and you get to figure it out for yourself. > 2: After that is accomplished, it occurs to me that by implementing > ps2pdf we could very rapidly implement conversion to pdf! A very useful > export format for me and hopefully others. We've had a discussion about this about a month ago and it seems like a much better idea to use pdflatex and there are also have a few other concerns related to pdf generation -- like which fonts are used -- so it was decided that a pdf mode would be a better idea. I can also add that from my experience pstopdf does a better job that pdf2ps so a pdf mode is the way to go offering ps output as an export option instead of the other way around. Please take a look at the archives before diving into this one. Also I know Lars has some good ideas for this and I was also going to take a look at setting some groundwork for this since I too need pdf output occasionally. > I am a LOUSY c++ programmer and will probably work on this forever. But > I am willing to work on it! If you're willing to accept instruction and constructive criticism you'll find your C++ skills improving as a result of sending in patches. I certainly know my skills have improved over the last three years and I'm still learning. It would also be wise to stick to little projects initially. I can recommend fixing annoying bugs and seg-faults/aborts as a very good way of getting to know the LyX code. Although you'll probably quickly realise that some of the code that's already there isn't "guru" quality so you'd be welcome to offer patches cleaning things up or at least questioning why things are implemented in a particular way. > Any suggestions would be helpful. Knowing you guys you have already > implemented this and I'm too late. Not implemented yet but certainly discussed. One of the things we probably should attempt to do is gather up the discussions into a project document so anyone who wants to tackle it can have a headstart and see what everyone has already decided is A Good Thing. There are a number of these sorts of projects -- discussed but not documented and not underway yet. Oh and I mustn't forget to mention that you should read the coding rules documentation in development/Code_rules/. Can you use cvs to get updates and to generate patches? If you don't have the ability to run cvs then you will be at a distinct disadvantage. Although in such a case a patch against the latest prerelease would have to suffice and one of the developers would have to take care of merging your code. This isn't too much a problem though just inconvenient. > Thanks for your time. Thanks for _your_ time! Did you see the Christmas present discussion from yesterday/earlier today? Allan. (ARRae)
