Ask HN: I'm frustrated with Github - please explain something to me

4 points·sixQuarks··5 comments

OK, I see the value of github and everything, but I'm always frustrated when I follow a link to github and there are no visual examples of what the hell the thing does. <p> Do programmers just automatically envision what the script can do? <p> Is there any value in github for a non-programmer?

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Do programmers just automatically envision what the script can do?

No we read the docs.

Is there any value in github for a non-programmer? Not really. There are a few esoteric repos of non code / code related files but the intended use is for easy code hosting and sharing.

There are also a lot of repos without documentation or examples. There's nothing wrong with that. They probably don't want you to use the code yet.

I don't know about for non-programmers but I'd certainly like to see more screenshots/examples - especially for projects where it's relatively easy, like JS.

I see innumerable github links to JS libraries especially and I just don't have the time to evaluate the code on all of them. A little demo can make the world of difference.

This frustrates me too. At least half of the releases I see on GitHub could use a screenshot. For technically minded non-programmers there are instructions on a lot of projects on how to download and build but anyone who has never used a command line likely won't get much use from it.

Well, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that wishes there was more of a visual element. Thanks for the replies.

it's a great platform for developer collaboration.

For distributing the software, I still prefer SF.net

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