Level Experience signpost

Development especial of OpenSource software. 

To be able to develop an Open source software you have to have in mind that you are not alone who try to solve exactly this problem and when you want to profit from this you should prepare the project to be easy to modify(cooperate) and maintain it by you as owner.

Experience Level signpost

Where to start as Beginner

1. See that it works and is possible to modify: "Hello world!"

   1. Variables(int, double, char, std::string), Why do I need to know the data type and its size.

   2. Conditions, cycles, functions, class, inheritance(first experience but not necessary to understand deeply, only ideology)

2. Start study background in small steps. 

   1. How a computer works, Harward architecture, ARM, Embedded, RT os, ...

   2. What happens inside a processor to be able to say that  1+2=3

   3. Binary code. Logic operator, Multivibrator

3. Understand C++ basics: build apparatus

   1. preprocessor, linking, templates (only basic of, example on point in 2d)

4. Do not repeat yourself, write it shorter way, but still well readable.

   1. Remember on substitution in Math

   2. Recursion, lambda, collections

What can you improve as Intermediate

1. Improve the readability of your code. 

   1. Keep uniform in code style (guide) 

      1. spaces VS tabs

      2. CammelCase or this_type

   2. Focus on naming functions and variables to be obvious newcomers.

   3. KISS, DRY, SOLID, Design patterns

   4. test ... Google tests, Catch, ... TDD

2. Do NOT reinvent the wheel:

   1. Use open-source projects: ImGui, loguru, ...

   2. Inspire in coding, remember what you dislike (to be able to do it better, when you will work on smth your own)

3. Templates

   1. Template metaprogramming - give you another way of optimization

4. Configuration: Yaml, XML, TXT, CSV, BIN

   1. How to store enum value: Magic_enum

5. Logger - logging levels

   1. loguru

6. GUI

   1. ImGui is in my opinion the best for quick C++ projects

   2. web GUI

7. Names, you should know: Herb Sutter, 

What is mast have for professional Expert

Remember that your result is not only your C++ code but Its future usability. You will not be there forever but your code could!

1. Make your project accessible(for a private team or public as OpenSource)

   1. Semantic Versioning [link]

   2. DEV ops - CI, CD (automatic pipeline for build and test)

   3. Plan Releases, make notes

   4. Issue tracker, collect Improve inspiration

   5. Code coverage [link]

2. Stay informed and in touch

   1. Conferences, news in C++ standards, try to create your proposals or 

   2. groups people with the same focus

3. Document decision Proc & Cons

   1. Work of others you can google on scholar mostly PDF for free.

   2. For research work around the project use LaTex to document it. I suggest overleaf.

4. Know your uniqueness (headline it)

   1. Link to the projects with a similar purpose

   2. Compare - what is better and what is the same

Every level should try

1. Make your development environment better

   1. Visualizers - every IDE has its own system for visualization of variables, improve your debugging

      • When you work with OpenCV in VisualStudio you should try ImageWatch

      • When you use VisualStudio you should be familiar with *.natvis (e.g. Eigen values)

   2. Macro for generating code - every IDE somehow(more or less) implement auto-complete functions

      • when you do something during development regularly. Think about how to automatize it or do it the more easy way.

      • Code generation in VisualStudio

   3. Feature Market - give it a try to look for some cool extensions for your IDE.

2. Use other libraries - do not reinvent the wheel or get inspiration to do it better way list-cppReference, single file, header-only, ...

3. Read about C++