get started with steel for curious

[AngeloChecked]

Hello there!

I'm really curious about learning more about steel. I've already begun reading the code, though I'm not sure if I'm good enough to contribute.

For now, my main focus is to grasp the overall structure and objectives of the project.

I've started build the project and run tests, but I'm open to guidance and feedback to ensure I'm on the right path.

cargo run works perfectly and displays the REPL
but in order to run tests i spied the CI: https://github.com/mattwparas/steel/blob/master/.github/workflows/rust.yml

so i do this:

# run-tests.sh
cd cogs
export STEEL_HOME=$HOME/.steel
echo $STEEL_HOME
mkdir -p $STEEL_HOME
cargo run -- install.scm
cd ..
cargo test --all

Everything seems to be working fine. However, I noticed some errors in the logs:

Did I miss something or forget to do anything specific?

thanks you!

[mattwparas]

Thanks for taking an interest in steel! Nope you've done everything correctly. Looks like I have a few tests that are throwing some debug error messages, but they're not errors - just leftovers from some test stuff. I'll make sure they get removed.

[Alex-Muirhead]

Hello! I'm also really interested in learning more about steel as well. I'm coming from reading the discussions on Helix's plugin system, and seeing the work you've done on your fork.
Like AngeloChecked, I'm not sure if I'm good enough to contribute yet, but are there any easy / intro-level issues that I could take a look at, to see if I'm understanding things?

[mattwparas]

Hello @Alex-Muirhead - sure, all contributions are welcome! I can make some issues and label them as good first issues. Are there areas within the implementation you're looking to understand more in particular? Or just generally want some issues to tackle to get started?

I can merge in my branch that has some hefty changes and then write up some issues that you could get started with

[Alex-Muirhead]

I'm happy just to start trying with some general issues 😄

[mattwparas]

I'm going through and creating issues and labeling them with the good first issue label - here is one for example #65

Watch for those coming in the next few days, but that one is a good starting point.

[AngeloChecked]

hi @mattwparas,

do you think it's a good idea for me to give steel test command a go? I'm also thinking about adding steel new for creating a super simple project folder. Do you think they are useful contributions? and if they are doable for newbie like me?
If you give me OK i create the issue!

[mattwparas]

Hey @AngeloChecked sure! Go ahead with those, happy to look at any contribution. I think both of those should be doable.