[@OKFNau] BudgetAus going open source

Fri Mar 7 01:18:48 UTC 2014

Hi Ryan, 
Thanks for reminding me about the login file. I'm glad someone did! There is so much for me to think about right now which is why I guess I'm putting out feelers before I begin. 
The reason I asked about the polish aspect of the code (and having never worked to someone else's standard since I did CSS/XHTML through uni), is that someone else who has yet to see the code pointed out to me that I may get blowback and was concerned for me. I have to admit I've been doing whatever I wanted with zero assistance or guidance right from day one and I'm stretched across multiple projects too- it's not as though I was coding with the potential to open source in mind. It is a relatively sudden decision.
Almost none of my code is documented because I made a decision to make myself work it out every time I went back to it. I doubt this is standard practice, it's just that I find documentation gets in the way of me reading the code and if I can figure it out I don't see why I need to document it for more experienced coders. My variables should be human readable but I guess I was curious to get opinions from other coders to see what they had to say.

Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)Founder & Developer InfoAus.net   ABN 90 345 143 783                       Home | Blog  | Twitter | BudgetAus FB | eXpenseAusFB | BudgetAus | eXpenseAus | KnowYourPlace | InfoAus Shop                                          

From: ryanecross at gmail.com
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2014 11:44:09 +1100
To: okfn-au at lists.okfn.org
Subject: Re: [@OKFNau] BudgetAus going open source

Hi Rosie, 
yep, I’m a php’er. 
I think its a great idea to take the opportunity to learn from other people by open sourcing the code. Even for more experienced developers, it is a VERY common concern that your work “isn’t up to standards” or “needs more polish before public viewing” but don’t let that dissuade or delay you. My biggest piece of advice would be to simply put it out there as is, and make your improvements in the public arena. The vast majority of people will simply applaud your efforts and offer some help - nobody was born with perfect coding skills. Anyone who is judgemental or otherwise negative towards your efforts will likely be rare and there is a very common response to them - “patches are welcome” - which you may word differently, but the point being that critiques of your code are welcome but are contributes that improve it are what helps. 

The only things you need to do before releasing the code are:1) be comfortable with the license you choose, since sometimes it can be hard to change that, but at the end of the day its 100% your copyright (until you accept/incorporate other people’s contributions)

2) Remove any hard-coded passwords/keys/etc from your code. If it doubt, just remove it - you can always add it back to the public code later. 
release early, release often. :-)

On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 3:25 PM, Rosie Williams <budgetaus at hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Ryan,
Your name rings a bell, are you a PHP-er by any chance? I'll be needing decent coders to help me bring my code up to standard. When I started BudgetAus it was my first database project and I had no inkling it was going to become what it has and will become. One of the reasons I'm open sourcing is because it is too big for one person and so that people can do their own implementations and features.

I have to admit though that I have not been following a standard wrt indenting or documentation & other bits and pieces. I'm sure that will be an affront to more disciplined coders. I'm looking at this as an opportunity to take on board the standards I should be applying but I could do with some help.

Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)Founder & Developer InfoAus.net   ABN 90 345 143 783                       Home | Blog  | Twitter | BudgetAus FB | eXpenseAusFB | BudgetAus | eXpenseAus | KnowYourPlace | InfoAus Shop

From: ryanecross at gmail.com
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2014 19:15:33 +1100

To: okfn-au at lists.okfn.org
Subject: Re: [@OKFNau] BudgetAus going open source

here are some additional resources depending on how much you want to understand your decision. 

http://opensource.com/law/13/1/which-open-source-software-license-should-i-use

http://www.billthelizard.com/2012/05/which-open-source-license.html  <- useful and humerous 
http://blog.codinghorror.com/pick-a-license-any-license/

http://notesfromheck.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/which-open-source-license-should-you-choose/ <- practical flow chart

On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 7:09 PM, Ryan Cross <ryanecross at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Rosie, 
I see someone has already pointed you to http://choosealicense.com/

I think you should consider 2 licenses. You need one for the code, and likely a different one for the data. Unless you decide to release all of it under the public domain. 

On Mon, Mar 3, 2014 at 8:17 AM, Rosie Williams <budgetaus at hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi all, 
I've made a decision to open source the BudgetAus code (and data). I'd like feedback about which licence to use and the pros and cons of different licences or any other advice people have. 

If you wish, comments can go onto the forum at http://infoaus.net/forum/discussion/11/federal-budget#Item_7 if you want other people interested in budget transparency to read them.

thanksRosie
Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)

Founder & Developer InfoAus.net   ABN 90 345 143 783                       Home | Blog  | Twitter | BudgetAus FB | eXpenseAusFB | BudgetAus | eXpenseAus | KnowYourPlace | InfoAus Shop

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