Confessions

of a jQuery Committer

• Kris Borchers
• Corey Frang
• Mike Sherov
• Adam J. Sontag
• Rick Waldron

Developer Relations

a.k.a

People

Support

Instant Gratification!

For everybody!

• jQuery Forum
• StackOverflow
• #jquery on Freenode

Documentation

Instant Gratification!

For everybody!

• jQuery API | on Github
• jQuery UI API | on Github
• jQuery Mobile API | on Github
• jQuery Learning Site | on Github

Meet People

• All projects have weekly, public IRC meetings
• Local Meetups! Don't have one? Start one!
• Come to conferences!
• Propose talks! Breakout rooms!

Hi.

My name is Kris.

Why I Got Involved?

Prizes!

Why I Stayed Involved?

Needs You!

Hi.

My name is Corey.

jQuery has changed the way I write JavaScript

◀◀

The year is 2010,
The location is #jquery - freenode.

▶▶
January 2011

• Bug #1414 - I can't .submit()
• Four rounds of back-and-forth with Rick
• We eventually determine we can't fix this (in oldIE)
• But - the work is still useful
• I learned a lot more about oldIE

Effects has this issue...
"Atomic Click" this button and see!

And then...

• UI Effects needed some maintenance
• RewardJS ( Moar UI Bugs )
• jQuery Core Bugs!
• jQuery Color needs some love too
• Infrastructure ( Servers )
• Core Effects Rewrite 1.8

And now...

• I can't stop myself!
• But... >You< can help me
• Find something you like, and do it
• If you like system admin - We REALLY want your help

Hi.

My name is Mike.

My passion: fixing bugs.

Hmm... how many does jQuery have? I'm sure I've hit one before...

To the bug tracker!

May 2011

• Bug #7557 - outerWidth() "broken" on window/document
• 2 comments on trac, 12 comments on PR...
• Closed without merge :-(
• But - the PR inspired a commit to actually fix the bug!
• I learned that jQuery cared about more than just "correctness", and that so should I.

I WILL DO BETTER.

jQuery css will have ZERO bugs

I will be a contributor.

Next 4 PRs: closed without merge.

Light Bulb moment: tickets were being closed.

Sure, I wasn't a contributor yet, but I was achieving my goal.

Ok, so why am I not getting merged? What's wrong?

Size, correctness, speed, style, readability...

Ok, so what am I doing right?

Persistence, Taking Feedback, Testing, Learning

And then...

PRs start landing. \o/

I learn: jQuery gets better as I do.

And then...

November 2011: jQuery 1.7 gets released...

I get mentioned!!!! AWESOME!

... as a "greenhorn" contributor. GREENHORN!?!?

jQuery 1.7 gets released...

O_o !!! I get mentioned...

as a "greenhorn" contributor.

GREENHORN!?!?

KEEP GOING!

jQuery changes policy to add any consistently helpful contributor to core...

I'm on the team. WIN.

If you can learn anythingfrom me:

• Be persistent.
• Make Changes.
• Realize that the right outcome is what matters.
• You don't need to be one of the "greats" to contribute...
• I'm not even that good at Javascript.

Hi.

My name is Rick.

twitter.com/rwaldron

github.com/rwldrn

September 2009

A discussion on the jquery-dev mailing list:

If Content-Type is JSON,

$.ajax() should parse the response as JSON.

I have a patch...

Untested

Unlinted

Bad implementation

Good thing John rewrote

the whole patch.

Watch the repo

Pull the master

Run the tests

Report the fails

Maybe I can help...

John Resig:

Allow yourself to be wrong.

Colin Snover:

Style. Consistency. Clarity.

Dave Methvin:

Balanced Approach.

Julian Aubourg:

Commitment. Dedication.

Adam Sontag &
Alex Sexton:

Be kind.

Thank You.