Real World Mozilla Source Code Reading Lab
Dive into Mozilla > Dive into Mozilla Day 3 > Source Code Reading Lab
Overview
This lab is designed to give you first-hand experience searching and reading Mozilla source code. This includes using on-line source indexing tools. You will also have an opportunity to better explore and understand how certain aspects of the browser work.
In this exercise you will take one or more common top-level actions in the browser and attempt to trace them through the code to see where things live and how they work. You are not expected to understand everything you read; however, you should have be able to get a general sense of the flow of things through XUL, JavaScript, C++, etc.
Instructions
Mozilla relies on various on-line source indexing tools in order to navigate, link to, and generally communicate with one another about the source tree. These include:
- http://lxr.mozilla.org
- http://mxr.mozilla.org or http://mxr-test.landfill.bugzilla.org/
- http://hera.senecac.on.ca:43080/source/
As a developer working on Mozilla projects, learning to use these tools effectively is essential.
Here are some possible topics for you to research. Feel free to pick others.
- Go > Back (ALT+Left Arrow)
- View > Reload (CTRL+R)
- Right-click an Image > View Image
- Edit > Find in this Page...
- Bookmarks > Bookmark This Page
- Tools > Clear Private Data
- File > Close Tab
- Stop Button
Use IRC to find other people interested in working on the same topic and collaborate there.