Comments on: Working for Vacation

Question: Working for Vacation

mkb — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:23:12 -0800

What open-source project should I work on? Or how do I find one?

I have a software engineering job, but the stuff we do is very run-of-the-mill. I need something else to work on in my off-hours once my somewhat pedestrian WordPress plugin is finished. I would really love something I can use to get good at Objective-C and/or audio and/or music. I definitely prefer Mac OS X as that's what I use for my work laptop, enabling to do things on the train. I don't even know where to start looking.

By: bcwinters

bcwinters — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:29:15 -0800

VLC Media Player is a program my Mac and I have been utterly reliant on for years. Total swiss army knife for audio and video playback.

Recent versions for OS X have regressed on some features a little bit—things like full-screen, multi-monitor, and FLV playback all need attention. Seems like a good place for a talented programmer with a Mac & A/V bent to contribute.

It's also a large/high-profile project so you may benefit from having a team of people rather than being the sole Mac guy.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:31:36 -0800

What kind of projects do you like doing?

By: mkb

mkb — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:33:58 -0800

delmoi: I would really love something I can use to get good at Objective-C and/or audio and/or music. Or did you mean more specific?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:54:56 -0800

I meant like what kind of technologies, (not just programming languages), what kind of programming (I guess high level, low level, user interface) etc.

By: cmiller

cmiller — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:07:59 -0800

Audacity, perhaps?

Really, you'll be much happier if you have an itch to scratch. Find something that you use that doesn't do what you want, and then fix it. You have motivation and reward, that way.

By: mkb

mkb — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:08:44 -0800

Well, I'm currently doing mostly web stuff. In the past I've worked on device firmware, drivers, applications, you name it. I'm more hoping to get away from web stuff and to some degree Java as well.

By: calumet43

calumet43 — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:18:34 -0800

You could always write an audio program for GNUStep.

By: phliar

phliar — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:40:59 -0800

If you're familiar with low-level stuff like firmware and device drivers, what about an autonomous robot (using a microcontroller)? It's totally open-ended so you can take it in the direction you find interesting. Or maybe just some sort of music-related microcontroller powered doohickey you've always dreamt of?

By: zippy

zippy — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:38:37 -0800

If you want to do something helpful in firmware land, there's a never-ending stream of new wireless chipsets that aren't yet well supported (RALink, I'm looking at you), especially for funky things like running in AP host mode.

By: Monochrome

Monochrome — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:17:30 -0800

Seconding the GNUstep suggestion. It's like OS X but open-source.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:22:53 -0800

If you go to the software map in sourceforge you can filter on programming language and OS. I found 943 projects that were written in Objective C and supported OSX. Unfortunately the interface for sourceforge sucks in that you can't save searches as URLs so you'll have to do the filtered search yourself.

By: davejay

davejay — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:02:30 -0800

I can't encourage you enough to pick a program you already like and use, but feel needs a bit more work. You'll do better work and be more motivated in the long term if it's a program you already feel a fondness for. So open up your program list and start looking at what you use, and what you use but wish was just a little bit better.