[Qgis-developer] FOSS4G2008 Code Sprint

[Tim Sutton]

Hi All

If anyone is attending the FOSS4G2008 conference, there will be a code
sprint day (most likely on the saturday after the conference). I'm
appending a general announcement below - it will be great if QGIS can
hold a sprint too (over and above the post conference nature tour /
semi hackfest we are planning the week after the conference).


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The upcoming FOSS4G2008 event in Cape Town will include a code sprint
session. What is a code sprint? Its a chance to 'geek out' for a day
with like minded people from your favourite open source geospatial
project. The idea is to gather together and code new features, plan
new features, kill bugs etc. Each project will determine their own
goals based on what is most important to them.

If you are interested in participating in the FOSS4G2008 code sprint
to point your web browser at
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G2008_CodeSprint and register yourself
and your project. In most cases you do not need to neccessarily be a
seasoned developer for the project - as often a 'fresh pair of eyes'
bring fresh insight to programmers who stare at teh same code day in
and day out. Participating in a code sprint is also a fantastic
learning experience and offers a chance to give something back to the
communities who work so hard to bring you free and open GIS software
alternatives. We look forward to seeing you there!

Best regards

Tim Sutton
FOSS4G2008 Code Sprint Organiser
tim at linfiniti.com


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Read, Set.......CodeSprint!

Every day around the world, thousands of people collaborate in virtual
communities to write software. For the most part they do it for fun at
no charge, simply for the love of the craft. The open source
phenomenon has spawned many applications that are now used by millions
of people around the world. During the recent launch of the open
source web browser 'FireFox version 3', the application was downloaded
over 8 million times within 24 hours of its release! The GIS community
has a long track record in open source too. QGIS, GRASS, Mapserver and
many others have been under development for many years and regularly
attract new users into the world of GIS. Often these are users who
otherwise simply could not afford the cost of licensing GIS
applications from major proprietry software vendors. Open source GIS
is more than simple a matter of making GIS free - its about empowering
local communities to build skills and create local economies around
the software. Being open source, people interested in learning how to
create a GIS application, or who would like to incorporate geospatial
features into their own application are offered a fantastic resource.

The upcoming FOSS4G2008 event in Cape Town will include a code sprint
session. What is a code sprint? Its a chance to 'geek out' for a day
with like minded people from your favourite open source geospatial
project. The idea is to gather together and code new features, plan
new features, kill bugs etc. Each project will determine their own
goals based on what is most important to them.

If you are interested in participating in the FOSS4G2008 code sprint
to point your web browser at
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G2008_CodeSprint and register yourself
and your project. In most cases you do not need to neccessarily be a
seasoned developer for the project - as often a 'fresh pair of eyes'
bring fresh insight to programmers who stare at teh same code day in
and day out. Participating in a code sprint is also a fantastic
learning experience and offers a chance to give something back to the
communities who work so hard to bring you free and open GIS software
alternatives. We look forward to seeing you there!

Best regards

Tim Sutton
FOSS4G2008 Code Sprint Organiser
tim at linfiniti.com
http://linfiniti.com


-- 
Tim Sutton
QGIS Project Steering Committee Member - Release Manager
Visit http://qgis.org for a great open source GIS
openModeller Desktop Developer
Visit http://openModeller.sf.net for a great open source ecological
niche modelling tool
Home Page: http://tim.linfiniti.com
Skype: timlinux
Irc: timlinux on #qgis at freenode.net