sorted contributing differently: most important stuff comes first; corrected its contents

1 files changed, 72 insertions, 86 deletions

diff --git a/contributing.rst b/contributing.rst
index dc77f0dbd..10f779cc1 100644
--- a/contributing.rst
+++ b/contributing.rst
@@ -1,73 +1,3 @@
-The Git stuff
-=============
-
-General commit rules
---------------------
-
-1. All changes introduced by the commit (diff lines) must be related to the
-   subject of the commit.
-
-   If you change some other unrelated to the subject parts of the file, because
-   your editor reformatted automatically the code or whatever different reason,
-   this should be excluded from the commit.
-
-   *Tip:* Never commit everything as is using ``git commit -a``, but review
-   carefully your changes with ``git add -p``.
-
-2. Changes should not introduce any trailing whitespace.
-
-   Always check your changes for whitespace errors using ``git diff --check``
-   or add following ``pre-commit`` hook:
-
-   .. code-block:: sh
-
-      #!/bin/sh
-      git diff --check --cached || exit $?
-
-   No sane programming or markup language cares about trailing whitespace, so
-   tailing whitespace is just a noise you should not introduce to the
-   repository.
-
-3. Describe your commit well following the 50/72 rule on commit messages:
-
-   Start with the commit subject as single line maximum of 50 characters,
-   without trailing period, briefly describing the change.
-
-   Optionally put the detailed description as a blocks of text wrapped to 72
-   characters, separated by single blank line from the other parts (including
-   the subject).
-
-More information
-----------------
-
-For more information on how to produce great commits and describe them well read:
-
-* `How to Write a Git Commit Message <http://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/>`_
-* `A Note About Git Commit Messages <http://tbaggery.com/2008/04/19/a-note-about-git-commit-messages.html>`_
-* `Guide by github, scroll down a bit <https://guides.github.com/activities/contributing-to-open-source/>`_
-
-Deprecation
-===========
-
-Backward compatibility is important, so if you are renaming a proc or
-a type, you can use
-
-
-.. code-block:: nim
-
-  {.deprecated [oldName: new_name].}
-
-Or you can simply use
-
-.. code-block:: nim
-
-  proc oldProc() {.deprecated.}
-
-to mark a symbol as deprecated. Works for procs/types/vars/consts,
-etc.
-
-`Deprecated pragma in the manual. <http://nim-lang.org/docs/manual.html#pragmas-deprecated-pragma>`_
-
 Writing tests
 =============
 
@@ -94,7 +24,8 @@ Sample test:
       seq2D[0][0] = true
       seq2D[1][0] = true
       seq2D[0][1] = true
-      doAssert seq2D == @[@[true, true], @[true, false], @[false, false], @[false, false]]
+      doAssert seq2D == @[@[true, true], @[true, false],
+                          @[false, false], @[false, false]]
 
 Compiler
 --------
@@ -131,22 +62,20 @@ Running tests
 
 You can run the tests with
 
-.. code-block:: bash
-
+::
   ./koch tests
 
 which will run a good subset of tests. Some tests may fail. If you
-only want to run failing tests, go for
-
-.. code-block:: bash
+only want to see the output of failing tests, go for
 
+::
   ./koch tests --failing all
 
-You can also run only a single category of tests. For a list of
-categories, see ``tests/testament/categories.nim``, at the bottom.
-
-.. code-block:: bash
+You can also run only a single category of tests. A category is a subdirectory
+in the ``tests`` directory. There are a couple of special categories; for a
+list of these, see ``tests/testament/categories.nim``, at the bottom.
 
+::
   ./koch tests c lib
 
 Comparing tests
@@ -159,22 +88,79 @@ The tester can compare two test runs. First, you need to create the
 reference test. You'll also need to the commit id, because that's what
 the tester needs to know in order to compare the two.
 
-.. code-block:: bash
-
+::
   git checkout devel
   DEVEL_COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
   ./koch tests
 
 Then switch over to your changes and run the tester again.
 
-.. code-block:: bash
-
+::
   git checkout your-changes
   ./koch tests
 
 Then you can ask the tester to create a ``testresults.html`` which will
 tell you if any new tests passed/failed.
 
-.. code-block:: bash
-
+::
   ./koch --print html $DEVEL_COMMIT
+
+
+Deprecation
+===========
+
+Backward compatibility is important, so if you are renaming a proc or
+a type, you can use
+
+
+.. code-block:: nim
+
+  {.deprecated: [oldName: new_name].}
+
+Or you can simply use
+
+.. code-block:: nim
+
+  proc oldProc() {.deprecated.}
+
+to mark a symbol as deprecated. Works for procs/types/vars/consts,
+etc. Note that currently the ``deprecated`` statement does not work well with
+overloading so for routines the latter variant is better.
+
+
+`Deprecated <http://nim-lang.org/docs/manual.html#pragmas-deprecated-pragma>`_
+pragma in the manual.
+
+
+
+The Git stuff
+=============
+
+General commit rules
+--------------------
+
+1. All changes introduced by the commit (diff lines) must be related to the
+   subject of the commit.
+
+   If you change some other unrelated to the subject parts of the file, because
+   your editor reformatted automatically the code or whatever different reason,
+   this should be excluded from the commit.
+
+   *Tip:* Never commit everything as is using ``git commit -a``, but review
+   carefully your changes with ``git add -p``.
+
+2. Changes should not introduce any trailing whitespace.
+
+   Always check your changes for whitespace errors using ``git diff --check``
+   or add following ``pre-commit`` hook:
+
+   .. code-block:: sh
+
+      #!/bin/sh
+      git diff --check --cached || exit $?
+
+   No sane programming or markup language cares about trailing whitespace, so
+   tailing whitespace is just a noise you should not introduce to the
+   repository.
+
+3. Describe your commit and use your common sense.