

Show HN: Live Code Reviews with Open Source Authors - christiansmith
http://hangouts.readthesource.io/

======
christiansmith
About a year ago some friends and I started meeting up monthly in a Google
hangout to explore the internals of open source software we use everyday. Our
motivations were simple: know our tools inside and out, learn from the works
of better hackers than ourselves, and hopefully get a jumpstart on
contributing to the repos we love.

At first we treated the hangouts like a study group, but the sessions quickly
evolved into one person preparing in advance and guiding the rest of the group
through what they had discovered. Then one day, the authors of PolymerJS
showed up to take part as we were dissecting their code (thank you, Twitter!).
Around the same time, we had been getting requests to record the sessions for
folks who couldn't make it.

Eventually, we put two and two together and realized we ought to invite open
source authors to read us their own works, broadcast live and recorded for
posterity. What a great way to learn to write _kick-ass_ code, pave the way
for new contributors to a given project, and spread our enthusiasm for all
things FOSS!

We're now promoting and archiving these hangouts at
[http://readthesource.io](http://readthesource.io). Last week we had Scott
Corgan guide us through Superstatic, the static file server behind
Divshot.com. On October 16th at 12:30 Pacific, Chris Matthieu and the Octoblu
team will give us an inside look at Meshblu, a machine-to-machine instant
messaging network and API that powers the Internet of Things (formerly known
as SkyNet.im).

We have a few more unannounced hangouts in the pipeline and we're actively
looking for more guests. Our intention is to continue covering both popular
projects and not-so-well-known, but uniquely interesting ones. In the mean
time, we'd love to get your take on the general concept as well as our
execution.

Thanks HN!

~~~
fcfowler
Very cool idea guys. As someone who makes a living using open source software,
it's scary how little I know about the internals and the work that goes into
crafting it.

~~~
christiansmith
Forrest, we'd love to see more Bloomington people join in! Great things going
on in your neck of the woods ;-)

------
oakley349
I've learned a ton tuning into Read the Source. We're all responsible for at
least making an effort to understand the tools we're using. Reading the source
is a good start.

~~~
christiansmith
Oakley, we love it when you show up. You always have great questions for the
discussion!

