Request for Volunteers

[Hic]

I have no familiarity whatsoever with OSGi, nor do I understand what you mean with "strong background in Object Oriented techniques, including typical design patterns", but I've worked with java for a few years now (sadly, most of it on my own) and I'd say that the pinnacle of my java knowledge would be a client/server chat program last year. Other than that, I've developed one or two flash games (only one in ActionScript 3.0 which is an object-oriented language).

I guess that my ability to work/help would depend mostly on how well documented/commented is the program right now, so that I wouldn't be fumbling in the dark so much.

Anyways, if you want any code samples or anything, feel free to ask (if you are still seeking help, that is).

[Folji]

Unless you already have plenty of people willing to do this (and you probably do, looking at the other replies), I could happily lend a hand with the bug tracker part of it. I've got prior experience with handling feedback, bug reports and suggestions from a few different online projects and communities.

[rukkyg]

I am interested in helping. I have a few years experience with Java Desktop programming and a few more with C++. I know design patterns. I am professional software engineer and in process of obtaining a MS in Comp Sci. I'm interested in development / bug fixes.

I am on Windows 7 64-bit and I could also run on Linux 32-bit if necessary.

Favorite design patterns: Factory, Singleton, Strategy
Packages worked with: Apache Commons, Log4j, JFreeChart, JYaml, EasyMock, Beans Binding, JUnit 4.5, SQLite & Oracle JDBC, Swing. I've used NetBeans primarily for GUI building.
I practice test-driven development.

[Shirik]

I'm very glad we've got so much support and just wanted to say to everyone "thanks." Just because you haven't heard anything yet means nothing -- we haven't started really considering any of the positions yet; you should hear something from us soon.

People are on vacation and as a result things can't happen quite yet bad timing, but oh well.

[Voorije]

I can probably dedicate some time in the near future, im a bit tied down atm w/ a web project but I'd love to help where I can.

Either w/ the Java Side or Bug Tracking.

You can find me on IRC under the nick 'ReAn', contact me if you wanna chat about my programming experience.

[IQgryn]

I have a fair amount of academic experience with Java and object-oriented programming. I'd be willing to help with coding although I only run Linux (x86).

[dralith]

I'd be happy to help with anything that's required. I've spent over a decade doing OO-programming in several languages, including Java and the OSGi framework. If you'd like examples or references, feel free to ask.

[Shannae]

I'm going to go ahead and toss my hat into the ring here. I have very limited time, and am entirely self taught in regards to computer engineering, but what help I can squeeze out, I will gladly do so.

[workman161]

I'd love to help hack away at MMOUI Minion. I've been a big C++ developer for almost 3 years, but I've got about 10 years in other languages like PHP, JavaScript, C, Python, Java, Perl, and pretty much every other language under the sun. I'm currently a hacker for the KDE project. A big part of hacking in KDE is using subversion and git for source control.

Right now, I'm a junior in my CS program at college, and we use java extensively.

So I'm probably one of the more qualified hackers available here for you

But I've got one stipulation, and that you let Minion get released under an OSI approved open source license. I'm not going to let my contributions get locked up in some proprietary software. Minion has the potential to be a really huge thing within MMO UI hacking circles, and open source really is the best way to go to make it as far reaching as possible.

[Voorije]

Originally Posted by workman161 But I've got one stipulation, and that you let Minion get released under an OSI approved open source license. I'm not going to let my contributions get locked up in some proprietary software. Minion has the potential to be a really huge thing within MMO UI hacking circles, and open source really is the best way to go to make it as far reaching as possible.

^^^ That would a) sacrifice a level of security. b) cause some places (for instance CF/WA) to probably look away from minion as they cannot protect their policies from being circumvented, and thus would lower minion adoption.

[ScytheBlade1]

Originally Posted by workman161 But I've got one stipulation, and that you let Minion get released under an OSI approved open source license. I'm not going to let my contributions get locked up in some proprietary software. Minion has the potential to be a really huge thing within MMO UI hacking circles, and open source really is the best way to go to make it as far reaching as possible.

As someone who absolutely loves KDE, Minion isn't and likely won't ever be released under an OSI approved license. I'm not privy to the details as to why, but I do know that the chances of this ever changing are exceptionally slim.

[Vyper]

Originally Posted by Voorije ^^^ That would a) sacrifice a level of security. b) cause some places (for instance CF/WA) to probably look away from minion as they cannot protect their policies from being circumvented, and thus would lower minion adoption.

Not that I'm pushing for Minion to be open source, but I do want to address a major, but common, misconception in this post. Specifically a.

Open Source Does Not Compromise Security: Many seem to believe this to be the case, but it's simply not true. Security based purely on your methods being secret is not any security at all. All software is inherently reversible, thus there will always be someone willing to go to the effort of finding your super-secret algorithm. If however, your algorithm is open, coders like myself who aren't going to go to the effort of reversing your program just to evaluate it's security practices, are likely to find those little nagging weaknesses and offer up patches.

If you need a perfect example of how Open Source can, (and often is), more secure than closed source, compare the number of live exploits for OpenBSD (can you find any?) to Microsoft Windows.

[ScytheBlade1]

As an OSS advocate I'd agree with you, but please, this is somewhat off-topic.

[workman161]

Originally Posted by Voorije ^^^ That would a) sacrifice a level of security. b) cause some places (for instance CF/WA) to probably look away from minion as they cannot protect their policies from being circumvented, and thus would lower minion adoption.

In which case, they shouldn't be releasing their addons to sites that encourage the same thing as what Minion appears to be doing: the super-easy publication and distribution of game addons. And if their policy actually says "You must not use anything other than 'unzipping the archive' to install our addon", how is it your fault that a rogue user wrote a plugin? Its their policy, not yours.

Also, what security would be lost by letting a million people look at and scour the code to find any flaws? Are you implying that 'open source' means 'anyone can make changes to the code that gets released'? Thats why we have things like 'developer access' where only certain people can directly commit changes to the source code, and all other patches and changes have to be reviewed.

I honestly really would like to help out with Minion, since it seems like it'd be a crazy awesome tool to have. Just like how apple claims the App Store on their iPhone 'revolutionized' the way people distribute and purchase software.

[loutr]

Hi,

I develop (banking) web applications in Java EE for a living, so I know my way around Java, OO programming and design patterns. The frameworks I use are Struts and Swing, never used OSGi but I'm interested in learning it We use CVS at work, I'm familiar with SVN and I've used git a couple of times.

I'm really interested in this project so I'd love to give a hand, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time when I'm working. I'll be on holidays for one month in one week so I think I'll be able to spare some time on Minion if you have something for me to work on Please PM me if you're interested.

[Shirik]

The discussion about open source is off-topic, but I'm going to address it anyway.

I am a strong proponent for open-source software, and Minion was originally written to be released under GPL (and this is still reflected in comments that have yet to be removed). Unfortunately, this matter is out of my hands. I understand that open source software actually tends to be more secure than its closed-source counterparts, and I truly wish everything could be open source. Unfortunately, this matter is essentially out of my hands.

There are a few very good reasons regarding why it cannot be open source. I would rather not go into those details right now, so you will just have to trust me on that.