Adopting a Collaborative Software Development Process in the ...

Adopting a Collaborative SoftwareDevelopment Process in the ScientificCommunityNOAA's 32nd Climate Diagnostics and Prediction Workshop (CDPW)Mike CharlesDOC/NOAA/NWS/NCEP/CPC

MotivationTo advocate improved software development and projectmanagement techniques, including collaborativesoftware development and the use of projectmanagement software.Who does this apply to?UniversitiesGovernmentPrivate sector• Any software developersFrom now on, for the sake of brevity, "collaborative work"will include use of project management software.

Disadvantages of Non-Collaborative Work

Non-Collaborative WorkA developer works alone• Work goes unchecked by others• If the owner leaves, nobody knows how the softwareworks• There are no ideas contributed by others duringdevelopment

Non-Collaborative WorkA developer doesn't log changes• Hard to revert to a previous version of the code• Can't remember what they did last week• Can't tell why a specific change was made

Non-Collaborative WorkA developer doesn't create documentation• Hard for others to adopt code• Hard for backup code owners to fix bugs and/or runcode• Hard to share code with others

Advantages ofCollaborative Work

Collaborative WorkHow should developers be working?• Collaboration - Working with others leads to moreideas and creativity, and more QCing of code• Tracking Changes - Using revision control software,tracking changes to code and keeping a log makes iteasier to revert to older versions of the code, and keeptrack of work• Documentation - Creating documentation and puttingcomments in code makes the code easier tounderstand and edit, and makes it easier to sharecode with others

Collaborative WorkHow do we know these methods are better?Open source software is a great model:• Started in 1983 - GNU Project - free software• Open source software is free to edit and distribute• Usually developed collaboratively• Usually contains sufficient documentation• Meant to be shared with many others• Linux operating system entirely based in open source• Essentially, open source practices promote bettersoftware development

Project ManagementSoftware

Collaborative WorkSoftware to help with collaborative development...• Wiki – A web site developed collaboratively by acommunity of users, allowing any user to add and editcontent.• Revision Control – Management of changes todocuments and software, including a history of allchanges made and logging for each change.• Issue Tracker – Software that manages a list of issuesor tasks that need to be fixed or completed.There are open source versions of all of these.

WikiWhat is a Wiki page?• Webpage containing text, pictures, and otherinformation that can easily be edited by a team ofpeople• For example, developers can create a new wiki pagefor each component of a piece of software (eg. gui,database backend, etc.)• Developers can also use wiki pages to documentscripts and source code

Wiki - TracCan format text and images any way you want

Wiki - TracCreating a Wiki pageStep 1 - Enter the URL of a page you want to makeStep 2 - Click "Create this page", using an optional templateStep 3 - Add your content

Wiki - TracKeeps history of all Wiki edits

Wiki - TracVisual diff between any 2 versions

Revision ControlWhat is Revision Control?• Managing and tracking changes to code, documents,and directories.

Revision Control - SubversionKeeps history & log messages of all changes

Revision Control - SubversionMerges changes from multiple developersRepositoryMikeKellyBrianCode is copied from repository, edited in each developer's isolatedenvironment, then sent back to the central repository

Issue TrackingWhat is issue tracking?• Managing a list of issues or tasks• Manage a list of "tickets" which can be assigned todifferent developers and store a history of commentsmade by any of the developers

Issue Tracking - TracCreate ticket for a specific task or issue

Issue Tracking - TracAnyone can comment on tickets, reassign, etc.

Issue Tracking - TracList tickets using optional filters

Subversion/Trac ComboRSS feed supportEmail notification of changes to ticketsCreate milestones100s of plugins available for Trac• View source code & Subversion code history withinTracConnect specific tickets to specific code revisions• Use Trac to keep track of all work done on a project

Summary• Current practice in many organizations is fordevelopers to work alone on software• Better practice is to work collaborativelyWikis help a team share documentation• Version control helps track changes to code andrevert to any previous version• Issue tracking helps developers assign tasks andtrack work on issues and tasks• We should all use open source software as a modelfor efficient, creative work

Thank youTrac - http://trac.edgewall.orgSubversion - http://subversion.apache.orgAny questions - email me at mike.charles@noaa.gov