I decided to put my money where my mouth is and contribute to the Subtext project. Woah, easy there, I didn't say Financial contribution (at least not yet). But I figured that my innovative web development skills might come in handy to give back to the free software thats given so much to me thus far. *sniffle*
The one thing I didn't realize was just how massive a project it is and how tightly organized and refactored all the code is compared to what I tend to sling on a daily basis. Web development as a single person or even a handful of folks is easy by comparison. You can go fishing by yourself, or bring a couple of friends. A little boat, some bait, a couple cold ones, a hat to keep out the sun; you might have a whole little kit you pack for fishin day. Takes a second to climb into a little dinghy, and row out into the lake, back by dark. The boat goes where *you* want it. I paint a nice leisurely picture don't I?
Now imagine that you just enlisted in the US Navy and have been assigned to a state of the art nuclear submarine like in the movie Crimson Tide. Everything has a place and a purpose. There are procedures that must be followed. Comments that must be inserted. ;) There's a chain of command. There are many people moving around in a confined space. Everyone has had a lot of training. There's rows and rows of switches with multicolored LED's that you have no idea what they do. And Oh, I forgot to mention the whole project is in C# and I speak VB.net.
Great movie, by the way. See it, if you haven't already.