Subversion

So I've found out that clicking on the URL for the repository and logging on through our web browser allows us to browse the contents of the repository, but we cannot add to it or make changes.

I've since installed rapidsvn using the following command in my Ubuntu terminal:
sudo apt-get install rapidsvn

I like the gui rapidsvn provides. It is easy to navigate and I am able to use many of the same idioms I learned over time from windows explorer. For instance, I was able to right click inside of a directory to access 'Make directory' which is exactly like 'New Folder' in most operating systems. I was also able to drag a file directly from my Ubuntu file explorer into the RapidSVN window which caused a file 'import.' I will note though that the performance is considerably slower than I expected it to be; FTP clients such as Filezilla seem to work faster. I guess the whole version control idea requires plenty to be executed behind the scenes. I'll continue to play with rapidsvn and reference the readings until it's time to leave for class.

Investigation

Our group has put in time individually over the weekend and some time together early Monday morning to put together information to report to the class. I think my best contribution to the group so far has been finding spreadsheets that some important RapidSMS players posted within their Google group discussions.

CLA Individual Signers

CLA Corporate Signers

RapidSMS projects


The first two links basically tell us who the big players in the project are and how to get in touch with them. Additionally, the 3rd link describes projects utilizing the RapidSMS framework, and who to get in touch with for each project. Carly has since emailed Cory Zue and he gave us some words of encouragement; he said that he would be happy to brainstorm about how we can contribute. I plan on sending more emails to each of the project managers to help us get a feel of which project might be a good fit for us. We have plenty of options, since we can work with either the RapidSMS framework or one of the many projects that use RapidSMS as a framework. I will blog later about my experiences with subversion and about Chapter 4.

As a side note, being sick is not fun. I have been hit hard by something that is going around. Hopefully these antibiotics I have been taking will have me able to work at a full capacity again just in time to do some programming.

Narrowed it down to one

So now our group has officially chosen RapidSMS as our project. I've joined the google group and have access to their IRC chat. It looks as though the software is best run on a Linux operating system; I'm glad I still have Ubuntu installed on my laptop. I plan on downloading the source code and seeing what it takes to have a RapidSMS app up and running.

My initial reaction to The Cathedral and the Bazaar is that it is actually bizarre. It's not a site meant to be read straight through, but one to be perused. It seems to be a hodge podge of things that influenced the author.

Picked our 3 projects

The class was moved into 220 which was a nice change since it has all the computers available for us to use. Our group picked our 3 projects which were: RapidSMS, OOo4Kids, and ifPeople; I think I would be happy with any of the three. I plan on checking out what the source code looks like for all three in addition to digging deeper into the documentation. It's nice that we have our wiki basically set and ready to make minor changes if needed.

First Day

The first day of CSCI 462 was familiar. We were divided into the groups that we will work with for the rest of the semester. My group consists of Carly, Shannon, Stephanie and myself. We've decided that "The A-Team" will be our team name. I've already started looking for the theme music. I successfully registered for the POSSCON event as well. Our team is in the process of figuring out the times we can meet. I think I may go ahead and look at some of the project choices while I have some time to kill.