[LUNI] Linux Dev

[Mark Stuart Burge]

I am wondering how easy/difficult it is to start developing and thus 
contributing to linux applications.

Having coded z80 assembler decades ago and then Visual Basic 6, writing 
some mediocre, yet useful applications, I am wondering where to start.

I bought one of those "learn to program in C++ for linux" books a few 
years ago and have been reluctant to devote any quality time to it since 
noticing that many people are now using stuff like 'ruby on rails' 
'ajax' 'java' and C++ although standing the test of time, seems like 
machine code in comparison, since the book concentrates on building from 
scratch as opposed to working with all the libraries that are out there now.

So, does anyone have any suggestions where I should devote my time.

I would love to be able to open up the source code to some of my apps 
and find fixes, make patches, add functionality etc and finally have 
something to give back to the community.

Do I start by looking into the libraries, to see what functions are 
already available to me ? or is there a standard approach to this that 
others have followed ?


Any comments would be appreciated.

Mark