The leJOS Tutorial

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Trail: Contributing to leJOS

# Trail: Contributing to leJOS

by Matthias Paul Scholz

Now that we have come to the end of this tutorial, and as you are aware that the idea of Open Source depends entirely on the contribution of those who benefit from it, you might be as inspired as to to ask:

How can I contribute to the leJOS platform?

As a matter of fact, there are different levels and possibilities to do so:

- Just building and running LEGO MINDSTORMS™ robots fueled by leJOS
- Delivering corrections, suggestions or ideas concerning leJOS
- Contributing articles to or translations of this tutorial
- Creating tools to facilitate working with leJOS
- Adding code to the leJOS project, thus enhancing the platform itself

And above all: remember to visit the leJOS homepage at http://www.lejos.org frequently.

## Building and running leJOS driven robots

The best way to test the leJOS platform, thus helping to make it more stable and performant, is to build robots and program them using the leJOS API.
As with every piece of software, the use in "real life" is its acid test: the more robots are running with leJOS, the more of its flaws (and its fortes, too) will become known.

There are robot contests taking place all around: take your leJOS driven robot and take part!
Tell your friends!

Keep in mind: As with every Open Source stuff, the more known the platform is, the more people will invariably be contributing to it. And hence the better and even more useful it will grow.

## Delivering input or The Truth Is Out There

As already stated above, your experiences out there with the platform are irreplacable for us:

- You have a question regarding leJOS?
- You noticed some flaw or some behavior of leJOS you consider irritating?
- You have some good ideas how the platform might be improved or enhanced?
- You have build a cool robot and driven it by leJOS?
- You have detected some interesting articles in the Web concerning robots?

The first address to do so is to subscribe to the leJOS discussion list and send your input there. This will enable you to keep in touch with the actual news regarding leJOS also.
Last but not least you might contact the administrators and developers of the leJOS project directly - see the contact section of the leJOS homepage.

Keep in mind: Any input is welcome. If you have a question, though, there is a good chance that there already is an answer somewhere in the FAQs or the discussion list. Hence you ought to check these sources first.

## Contributing to the tutorial

If you are missing something here or you feel tempted to contribute to the Tutorial by yourself as the author of some lesson or trail, you are highly welcome.
If you consider this Tutorial neccessary or at least desirable to be available in your mother tongue, your help in arranging an according translation may be required.
You may contact the author or visit the contact section of the leJOS homepage.

## Building tools

There is a bunch of tools available yet which helps to ease the life of the leJOS user: IDE Plug-ins or even complete IDEs, PC based remote controlling, RCX simulation and so on - many of these are listed at the utilities section of the leJOS homepage.
There is always need for improving those tools or even for new ones - if you are into that, don't hesitate to contact the authors of the tool in question or to ask the leJOS admins to add a link to your new tool's webpage.

## Becoming a leJOS project developer

The ultimate challenge, though, may be to join the project as one of its registered developers and contribute with your code to the improvement and developing process of the leJOS platform itself.

The first thing you will have to do to accomplish such a task is to get access to the project's CVS repository to be able to download the platform sources.
You might do this as an anonymous (guest) user, but in this case you won't be able to upload your code to the repository. However, if you have code to share it's better to register as a Sourceforge user (it's free).
Having done this, you might follow the hints on Sourceforge's Document manager page to enable your machine to share the leJOS project CVS entries.

Next, you have to be added as a developer to the leJOS project. This can be done by one of the leJOS project admins; just contact one of them (a sample of the code you mean to add to the leJOS platform might prove useful).

Last, you should subscribe to the leJOS developers list to regularly receive the latest news and discussions regarding development issues.

If you want to share code but don't want to be become a regular leJOS platform developer for any reason, you might just contact one of the developers who might add the code for you.

### Have Fun and Keep In Touch!

The leJOS Tutorial

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