Today I was playing with some library from the playground. Obviously it has some anyoing bug. I found some fix but I have no clue if it might not disrupt other parts of the library.
My question is: how is the community accepted behavior? Put a "fix" in the playground? Or contact the author? Or discuss the issue here in some thread? I am asking because the last time I found a bug (in some other library) I tried to directly contact and got no answer so far.
Since I benefit from the libraries I thought I should contribute any bugfixes that I find.
I vote for direct contact, and a thread where you state the problem, possible reasons for this problem and possible solutions.
I also think it is helpful, almost necessary to describe a way to recreate the problem.
And it is always easier to help humble requests than blunt demands.
I had a similar experience, but it was with a code example that appeared on a Playground page, not a library. I contacted the author with a demonstration of the fault and a proposed fix before I just went blasting away at someone else's code. It worked well for me doing it that way. I think most authors appreciate the contact beforehand.
Welcome to the downside of Wikis. Anyone can basically post what they want. Theres no check as to their ability or trustworthiness. Good code can be overwritten with bad just so that someone can have their name in lights. Its often those with more enthusiasm (or worse an agenda) than ability whose content is seen in there.
Having said that, for an organisation of volunteers with minimal resources, its not a bad compromise for free content that can be very helpful.
...those with more enthusiasm (or worse an agenda)...
I can not help but to question this.
What kind of agenda are you talking about? Is it possible to contribute to the playground without an agenda?
I know I have an agenda: Making the process of writing programs as fast as possible, with as readable code as possible.
And yes, I put my name in the code, but not for the potential credit. This makes it easier for the code to be trusted, as someone is 'responsible'. Additionally I answer all mail I recieve on the matter of libraries and code related to arduino. The last four-ish months not a day has gone by without at least one mail with a question or a request.
And I'm loving it. Being able to keep in touch with the users has been great.
Hi,
I'd add a small bug-report to the playground page itself and contact the author at the same time. Up to now I had only one bad experience with this where the author got mad at me because I was "undermining his reputation".
But this guy also never managed to fix the bug and since there where much better playground-solutions for the same problem I simply deleted the article after 3 month.
I've never attempted to add or correct anything in the playground. Mostly because I really don't know how, or what the proper rules might be, let alone what proper etiquette might be.
It might be helpful for some guidance documents or mentor tips on the whole playground/Wikis process.
Re my agenda statement, I stand by it, whilst outright spam in the playground is rare, pimping your site for something you're selling or for click through advertisements on your page isn't.
