New idea: Snippet Wiki

[mooeypoo]

Well, I had an idea..

 

There are a lot of places offering script snippets in many different dev languages, but usually you get a script that is semi-good, then improve it, have to upload, no one finds which is better, etc.

 

I was thinking of starting a snippet wiki, where the scripts are divided by categories of programming language (PHP, perl, C, etc) and by type categories (like tools, utilities, website operations, etc). The difference between what exists today and the idea of a wiki snippet is that the snippets in the wiki could be updated and upgraded by the users, so we might end up with snippets of shared-effort scripts that are better than what we usually find.

 

It's like a collaborative effort in programming. It can be awesome for beginners who want to find scripts to try and play with and good for pros who want to refer to snippets and codes, fix them and updated them as the technology progresses.

 

I wouldn't mind putting some time into building it but I would like to know if there is any interest in something like this. I could open a wiki 'till my head falls off, but if I'm the only one updating it, it's worthless.

 

So. Two questions:

 

1. As either a pro or a newbie programmer, would you be interested in this?

2. Would you like to cooperate in devising the basic schematic of how it should be built (like what kind of categories to use, etc)?

 

Awaiting your inputs

 

~moo

[foodchain]

Well, I had an idea..

 

There are a lot of places offering script snippets in many different dev languages, but usually you get a script that is semi-good, then improve it, have to upload, no one finds which is better, etc.

 

I was thinking of starting a snippet wiki, where the scripts are divided by categories of programming language (PHP, perl, C, etc) and by type categories (like tools, utilities, website operations, etc). The difference between what exists today and the idea of a wiki snippet is that the snippets in the wiki could be updated and upgraded by the users, so we might end up with snippets of shared-effort scripts that are better than what we usually find.

 

It's like a collaborative effort in programming. It can be awesome for beginners who want to find scripts to try and play with and good for pros who want to refer to snippets and codes, fix them and updated them as the technology progresses.

 

I wouldn't mind putting some time into building it but I would like to know if there is any interest in something like this. I could open a wiki 'till my head falls off, but if I'm the only one updating it, it's worthless.

 

So. Two questions:

 

1. As either a pro or a newbie programmer, would you be interested in this?

2. Would you like to cooperate in devising the basic schematic of how it should be built (like what kind of categories to use, etc)?

 

Awaiting your inputs

 

~moo

 

I like just being able to go to wiki and find introductory material on any question I might get. In regards to computers that would be great, more so if it was created to easily be modified by other people. Such as if you make a section on java, and in it you have quirks that maybe some person who builds mobile applications could inject some thought on or concepts about such an environment, even if its from a hardware view alone. I think that’s why the tagging or embedded linking of wiki makes it a powerful tool, simply put if you put in the links right to existing pages of information, you could simply click through the history of say cplus without have to make a page for just that particular topic. Which I guess would also require a good writer.

[mooeypoo]

I like just being able to go to wiki and find introductory material on any question I might get. In regards to computers that would be great, more so if it was created to easily be modified by other people. Such as if you make a section on java, and in it you have quirks that maybe some person who builds mobile applications could inject some thought on or concepts about such an environment, even if its from a hardware view alone. I think that’s why the tagging or embedded linking of wiki makes it a powerful tool, simply put if you put in the links right to existing pages of information, you could simply click through the history of say cplus without have to make a page for just that particular topic. Which I guess would also require a good writer.

 

I guess we could have 'articles' but the main point of this wiki is to have code snippets that will be upgrades and tweaked by the users. So it's not so much "learn to program" but rather a database of "the best snippets", because they're being updated constantly by multiple people.

 

So if I built a code for validating a login (user/pass) in PHP/mySQL for example, I post it under "PHP4" category, mySQL category (wiki allows for multiple categories) and "Website Modules" category.

 

Then, another person things that the code can be updated, upgraded and adds some tweaks to it like prevention of SQL injection - that I eithre didn't think about or didn't know exist, or it just "came out" in the net-news that some new attack is up, or whatever. Now the users have an even BETTER script than my original one. I go back, I see the update, I think i have another idea for a tweak, I do it.. and so on and so forth.

 

The result is a db of ever-better script snippets.

 

Whatcha think?

 

~moo

[Mr Skeptic]

Wouldn't a database be better than a wiki? I think there would be a project of that sort somewhere already, but I'm not sure.

[mooeypoo]

well the entire point is to update the snippets ... that's a wiki

 

a Website of snippets already exists, but they are either a single-person doing or hard to update and control.

 

A wiki has the point of allowing people with various knowledge bases to update it.

 

it's kinda like doing an open-source program... just... an opensource snippet base

[Pangloss]

It's an interesting idea. I like the accessibility aspect of it when compared with an open-source project site such as Codeplex, where code is checked in and out by registered users, which has drawbacks revolving mainly around time and ease-of-use. Snippets are very simple objects and it would be relatively easy to see if someone has broken the code.

 

You'd probably want to have a restriction on the total number of lines, and it would also help if you had some sort of built-in function that "baselines" the code, marking it as functional at a certain point in time, so the users can automatically roll it back to that baseline if someone does tamper with it and screws something up. Also a function that lets the user easily break the snippet off onto a different page if they want to add their own functionality would be kinda cool.

[mooeypoo]

Great ideas, some of them I already did, some I need to see how could be implemented...

 

take a look: http://www.codlaborate.com

 

It's an early version, I'm still working on the guidelines, copyright (GNU Copyleft and extensions, but you could see the basic principles and if you want, start adding code.

 

Those of you who are good at programming and care for this project, let me know. I'm starting to look for a few people to have as sysops to try and maintain *some* level of quality control (like marking versions as 'operational' or deleting crap and such).

 

Tell me what you think..

 

~moo

[iNow]

Mooey:

 

I just stumbled across this today. Have you seen it yet?

 

http://code.google.com/

[mooeypoo]

yup

but it's not the same as my idea.. this is more of a similar project to "SourceForce" -- groups of people start a project and collaborate on it. My idea was more of a "everyone collaborate" thing, not just a closed group.

 

I started it up btw, I just didn't have time to put into it.. if you happen to stumble accross interesting (and free) code, feel free to add up:

 

http://www.codlaborate.com