Visualizing Open Source Contributions

An anonymous reader writes "A student at UC Davis has created some stunning visualizations of open source software contributions, including Eclipse, Python, Apache httpd and Postgres. From the website: 'This visualization, called code_swarm, shows the history of commits in a software project. A commit happens when a developer makes changes to the code or documents and transfers them into the central project repository. Both developers and files are represented as moving elements. When a developer commits a file, it lights up and flies towards that developer. Files are colored according to their purpose, such as whether they are source code or a document. If files or developers have not been active for a while, they will fade away. A histogram at the bottom keeps a reminder of what has come before.'"

Comments

lol

[Vectronic]

"When a developer commits a file, it lights up and flies towards that developer."

Shit, that sounds kinda scary... flaming files chasing you around the office.

Re:lol

[El_Muerte_TDS]

Take your pick. Flaming files, or flying chairs.

Re:Your server was coded by a hamster

[amccaf1]

One of the first things that shows up in the Apache video is a "rodent of unusual size" (!).
Your webserver was coded by a hamster and your Perl smells of elderberries!

I think you're getting your Princess Bride references confused with your Monty Python pointers...

Re:Needs flash 9

[mebrahim]

You may download the original video if you sign up for a Vimeo account.

Commits are a bad measure

[pclminion]

Lots of commits isn't really a measure of developer productivity or worth. Among other things, it might just mean a scatter-brained developer who commits lots of unrelated, mostly useless changes, or somebody who continually writes bugs then has to back them out. More seasoned programmers will tend to make fewer, but larger commits.

Something open source seems to lack in general is project stability. With so little central oversight, changes tend to happen without people really thinking things through, many times without any clear motivation for the change other than simply pumping out code in order to look "active."

Software engineering as a discipline has been working for decades to come up with a heuristic to evaluate programmer productivity, and we're still nowhere close, although there are literally hundreds of formulas in use.

Of course, it's flashy and cool, but I worry that this will only encourage people to make more commits instead of actually using their brains.

Re:Your server was coded by a hamster

[Osurak]

This happens when somebody not versed enough in obscure American culture attempts a joke at Slashdot... Monty Python is British.

The one that didn't make it

[ZeroPly]

Apparently they did the same thing for Vista and posted it to youtube, but people just thought it was a watermelon exploding...

Open source help.

[WarJolt]

I've received some requests to make the application open source so that people can use it on their own software projects. I think that's a great idea. Unfortunately the ad hoc code needs lots of cleaning and I will be busy with other things in the next few months. If I have time I will look into it. I don't have the authority to speak on behalf of all of us /.ers, but I will anyway. Give it to us and we'll clean it up for you. Unless you're using code you can't release I'd like to take a look at what you got.