1) It worries me that programmers would avoid making
changes to
MediaWiki just because it's hard to figure out where to make those
changes. For my own part, I have to admit that I kind of dread going
into the MW source -- it sometimes feels like a jungle in there.
Perhaps at the very least we need to come up with some way of documenting how the source
works -
like the boring bit of coursework projects where you have to write up a report to make it
look like
you "designed" the thing, rather than just writing it and fiddling with it till
it worked (I hope at
least *some* of you have had to do this kind of coursework at some stage...). Dull as they
are, it
wouldn't half help if there were some bits like data flow diagrams - even just a
breakdown of what
*classes* exist in the codebase (
http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_code_layout
currently
reveals little more than "ls" + a bit of common sense).
And yes, I know I should do it myself rather than complaining - and seeing as I just
graduated [2:1!
2:1!!], I may just have the chance to do that; document while I familiarise myself...
--
Rowan Collins
[IMSoP]