[webkit-dev] MathML Project Contact etc.

[Alex Milowski]

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 1:03 AM, Zoltan Horvath <zoltan at webkit.org> wrote:
>
>
> On Friday 15 January 2010, at 07:32, Alex Milowski wrote:
>> I'm presenting my MathML in WebKit work tomorrow at the Joint AMS/MAA
>> meeting here in San Francisco.
>
> Will somebody record the presentation?

Unfortunately no.  I am mostly trying to make the Mathematics community
aware that MathML in WebKit is now moving forward.  The latest patch
I submitted has made some pretty good progress.

>
>> After looking through my slides I feel
>> that I'm unsatisfied with what I'm telling people about where to go for
>> more information or to contribute to the project.
>>
>> I'd like a better way for:
>>
>>    * MathML in WebKit related discussions to take place,
>
> I think webkit-dev, and bugzilla is the best place for it. You can make URLs
> to the thread starting mails in the trac.

I think the problem is that the people I am trying to engage at the AMS/MMA
meeting here are more users than developers.  I want to find some resourceful
individuals who will help guide my work (e.g. I'm meeting two of the editors of
the new MathML 3.0 draft).  As such, their discussions will be more about
what is to be done and how it does or should work.

>>    * builds of a MathML enabled WebKit for testers.
>
> The best way would be to push the MathML sources into the trunk somehow... The
> patch has been in the bugzilla for a long long time. Any reviewers? (#29529,
> #33703)

Well, yes.  Unfortunately, this is going to take a long time to get into
the trunk.  Issue #29529 has been there for quite awhile and I'm now at the
point where I'm going to try a new approach to getting things reviewed.

Issue #33703 is my "repository" for the latest code so that I have both
a backup copy and a way for developers to get the latest MathML code.  I
don't have the ability to make a branch.

>
>> While some of this can take place on the wiki, a separate mailing list
>> might be better for MathML+WebKit specific discussions.
>
> Separate mail list is a good idea, but not for this open source contributing.
> I think webkit-dev has the biggest visibility, so this would be the best place
> for MathML discussions.

True.

>
>> What's the standard practice for this kind of thing?  I could certainly go
>> start a google group for this kind of discussion.
>
> You can also make a bugzilla post for this discuccions and CCing the people
> who are interested in.
>
> I hope MathML's code will be in the trunk at the earliest!

I'm going to try to separate different pieces of #33703 into small patches so
that the less controversial pieces can get committed.  I'm still learning the
"right way" to do this so I'm certain I have code that, while it works, isn't
correct.  On the other hand, I have other code that should be easy to review.
As such, separating those pieces should make it easier to make progress
in the trunk.

Of course, that is a lot of work on my part but it seems to be the
right strategy
for handling the bottleneck of reviewers for rendering code like mine.

-- 
--Alex Milowski
"The excellence of grammar as a guide is proportional to the paucity of the
inflexions, i.e. to the degree of analysis effected by the language
considered."

Bertrand Russell in a footnote of Principles of Mathematics