[WikiEN-l] Re: Learn PHP

Mon Nov 22 05:13:36 UTC 2004

 --- Tim Starling <t.starling at physics.unimelb.edu.au>
wrote: 
> Matt R wrote:
> >  --- Tim Starling wrote: 
> > 
> > 
> >>Unfortunately it seems most programmers on
> Wikipedia would rather think 
> >>of excuses, complain about the lack of progress
> and file bug reports.
> > 
> > 
> > There's an unfortunate tendency on Wikipedia to
> suppose that if you identify a
> > problem that you can fix, then you have an
> obligation to fix it. Even if you
> > have the capability, there is no moral imperative
> for volunteers to do anything
> > at all on Wikipedia, and documenting a problem is
> already a positive
> > contribution, albeit a comparatively minor one. Of
> course, to grumble or whine
> > about a problem that you've identified is
> churlish, as you have no right to
> > expect that others fix things on your behalf.
> > 
> > But to get to the point: I'm very grateful to the
> developers. I would quite
> > like to hack on Mediawiki myself some day, but
> right now I prefer to spend my
> > time contributing to the content of articles --
> this is not an *excuse*; this
> > is a choice, and I (only mildly!) resent any such
> implication.
> 
> I'm sorry if I caused offence, I just wanted to
> impress on everyone that 
> Wikipedia has barely any developers. If you're ever
> wondering why some 
> feature hasn't been written yet, it's because
> there's been no-one around 
> to write it. Most of the active developers seem to
> be more interested 
> writing features for a general audience than for
> Wikimedia projects. 
> There's more editors on the Old English Wikipedia
> than there are 
> developers overall. Maybe Matt doesn't want to help,
> and that's fine. I 
> get the feeling Gerrit doesn't either. But is there
> anyone? Every second 
> Wikipedian seems to know a programming language. We
> just need, say, two 
> or three developers willing to put in a few hours
> per week.
> 
> -- Tim Starling

I currently have some time on my hands and I'd love to
be able to learn how to contribute.  What do you need
exactly, only people who know PHP?

I little about PHP but I would be willing to learn
from scratch :).  Hopefully there are other people who
want to learn, we can form a little group and go
though a few tutorials.  This way people who know PHP
could help multiple people at once learn saving time. 
How long would you guess it take before a person would
learn enough PHP to be useful on MediaWiki?

ShaunMacPherson

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