[Xapian-discuss] Writing a Quick Start Guide to Xapian

[Justin Finkelstein]

I think what would be good is if we had a representative from each of
the major programming languages that use it, so that the documentation
is compiled of:

    o Core concepts: what Xapian is (and isn't); how it works; what each
of the different capabilities it offers can do
    o Then a series of worked-through examples, in a each language, of
how to do pretty much everything

To me, this would produce what I believe is commonly called a
'cookbook', giving people a real head-start in adoption.

If we could get this done, then we're well on the way to an excellent
set of docs.

In addition, my company'd still like to offer our design services for a
fancy redesign of the site (for free, in return for a link/credit
somewhere), if there's interest.

On Thu, 2011-07-28 at 14:14 +0100, Andrew Betts wrote:

> I would also be interested in this, and happy to contribute from my experience of developing a number of Xapian powered sites, the most complex of which is http://tilt.ft.com.  I'm also based in London.
> 
> > Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:16:08 +1200
> > From: Olly Betts <olly at survex.com>
> > Subject: [Xapian-discuss] Writing a Quick Start Guide to Xapian
> > To: xapian-discuss at lists.xapian.org
> > Message-ID: <20110727111607.GA3346 at cavity>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> > 
> > Google are holding a GSoC "Doc Camp" this year the week before the
> > annual mentor summit - the dates for Doc Camp are 17-21 October, and the
> > location is Google HQ in Mountain View, California, USA.
> > 
> > A major part of this will be several Book Sprints for writing Quick
> > Start guides for specific organisations taking part in GSoC.  They're
> > currently inviting proposals, and I'd like to submit one.  I took part
> > in a book sprint of this format in 2009, and have been wanting to hold
> > one to do a "Xapian book" ever since.  The issue has been how to get
> > enough people together in one place, and this seems a good opportunity,
> > particularly as a Quick Start guide would fix one of the weaker aspects
> > of the current docs.
> > 
> > Details are at the URL below, but a key thing to note is that
> > participation is open to *ANYONE*, not only those involved as mentors
> > this year.  Google are offering to pay for food and accommodation costs,
> > and you can also apply for some or all of your travel costs.  It's right
> > before the mentor summit, so if you're attending that (for Xapian or
> > another org) transport costs aren't an issue anyway.  The URL is:
> > 
> > https://sites.google.com/site/docsprintsummit/home
> > 
> > As part of the proposal, we can nominate up to 5 people.  It would be
> > good to have a range of familiarity with Xapian - we clearly need there
> > to be at least one person with plenty of Xapian experience in the team
> > to ensure the content is accurate, but we also really need some people
> > who are fairly new to Xapian and are better able to put themselves in
> > the shoes of the people who most need such a book.
> > 
> > We need to submit a proposal before 5th August, so we have a week and a
> > bit.  So if you can be available that week and are interested, or would
> > just like to know more, please get in touch.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> >     Olly
> 
> 
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