User:Mattar1

About Me

My name is Mohamed Attar, and I am currently in my fourth year of the BSD program. I am apart of the D-Bus project listed below.

Contact

• Email = mattar1 -at- learn.senecac.on.ca

• IRC Nick = mattar (irc://irc.mozilla.org#seneca)

• Webpage = http://www.mohamedattar.com

My Assignments

Here is my assignment 1

My Contributions

XULRunner Guide by Mike Lau and Colin Guy - I helped proof read the final document.

Firefox Performance Testing : A Python framework for Windows by Liz Chak - Commented on her document and tried giving some suggestions.

Page Info tab access keys are inconsistent (no accesskey for "Security" tab) - Helped with the following bug. Results: Duplicate, Resolved. Contributors: Mark and Man

CSS Properties - I added (so far) 4 moz specific tags. They are -moz-border-SIDE-colors, where SIDE = top, bottom, left, and right.

Major Project

I have volunteered to help run the D-Bus and other Linux desktop integration improvements project. All related project information will be posted on the previous link.

Newsgroup Summaries

Mark D'Souza and I are summarizing the Quality Newsgroup on a weekly basis. We will alternate each week.

Experiences

For the D-Bus project, I will have a separate link on the main project page about my experiences, problems, etc...

I will talk about my overall experience here.

First, I should describe what my interpretations of open source were before this class.

I am a typical Windows desktop user. I use UNIX, UNIX-like, or Linux operating systems for programming related assignments, my personal home network, and at my part time job.

I never really thought of using open source tools to build desktop applications. The lectures from the Mozilla crew and the D-Bus project have helped me see an alternative in my career. I never thought there would be a job for me in open source, nor did I think I would be interested in working in open source.

Something I value in open source is the community, energy, and passion for these projects. The reason why I wanted a career in software is the ability to create and design (this was back in high school when I took gr. 12 comp sci). Over the past few years (at Seneca), I've come to realize most businesses have deadlines, project features, etc... that can not be compromised for your interest in learning or creating something new. I adjusted to that fact, but ever since I've been apart of this class I've felt apart of the creativity and passion for what I do and enjoy come back again.

My suggestion to all students is to join an open source community. Find a project that might be of interest to you and listen in to the community. It can't hurt to try.