PlaneShift Development School
PlaneShift Development School
Become an Apprentice Software Developer for the PlaneShift project.
Who can apply?
You if:
- You have experience with any programming language.
- Are willing to learn C and C++.
- You can spare two evenings (or equivalent) a week for approximately four months.
The ultimate goal of this apprenticeship is to understand how to work as a software developer, in a distributed software development team, for the PlaneShift project and eventually fix bugs.
There are (at least) two phases that must be completed before becoming a PlaneShift Software Development Apprentice and each phase will be supported by:
- PlaneShift Software Development Team via the IRC channel: #planeshift-build
- PlaneShift Software Development Team via the PlaneShift forum private messaging system.
The PlaneShift Software Development Team will constructively grade your work at each stage, with an eye to help you become a PlaneShift Software Development Apprentice.
Phase 1.
Environment and documentation
Topics covered:
- How to install a test PlaneShift Game Server on your own computer.
- How to set up a development environment.
- How to read the PlaneShift Application Programming Interface (API).
- How to check-out source code from versioning software, make changes and then check your changes back in.
- How to test your code.
- How to use the Bug Tracking web site.
The duration of this phase will be entirely up to you but assuming you can spare two evenings a week (or equivalent), the initial subject matter listed above should be completed over a period of two months.
Then what?
Phase 2.
Coding exercises
If the PlaneShift Software Development Team is satisfied that you have completed phase 1 then real coding exercises will be given to you.
You must complete and test each exercise on your own PlaneShift Game Server.
After each exercise, you will submit code and screenshots to the PlaneShift Software Development Team, who will constructively grade your work with an eye to help you become a PlaneShift Software Development Apprentice.
The duration of this phase, again will be entirely up to you but assuming you can spare another two evenings (or equivalent) a week, expect to spend two more months on these exercises.
The Software Development Team need confidence in you and your abilities so please be patient if they ask you to spend a little more time on some more exercises.
Then what?
Provided you have met the PlaneShift Software Development Team’s standards, you will be invited to become a PlaneShift Software Development Apprentice.
You will become part of an experienced, distributed software development team and assigned bugs to fix.
Tour of duty
How long is the apprenticeship for?
This will depend on how many hours and how much work you are able to do but after a year you can expect to receive a certificate stating that you have been a member of the Software Development Team for the Open Source Project: PlaneShift
for a period of one year.
Certificates will be issued annually there after.