In early 2010 I submitted a grant proposal to the Python Software Foundation (PSF) to have me be paid for two months to work full-time on the Python core. Specifically, I said I wanted to rewrite the devguide (nee dev docs), write a HOWTO on porting code from Python 2 to 3, and time permitting improve the test suite for Python by helping make it more robust and uniform.
Well, the grant was accepted and I started working on it today (technically I started yesterday, but it was not a full day so I am calling this day 1). To start I am working on the devguide (the repo is at http://hg.python.org/devguide). At this point I have an outline of the pages I want to write along with a rewrite of both the original "getting set up" guide and the original patches guide.
My over-arching goal with this new devguide is to make it much more task-oriented. I want people to be able to read the list of docs and be able to contribute quickly with very pointed suggestions on how to get started. Once someone feels more comfortable they can move on in the docs and do some more advanced contributions. The last bullet point is getting commit privileges (with a sub-bullet on how to do an actual commit), so I want people to be able to work their way over time from not knowing how to contribute to Python to becoming a core developer.
I do plan to post daily on what the heck I managed to get done each day. I also plan to be be sitting in #python-dev while I work to help there however I can.
