Anyone who worked with MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0 in its early release state noticed a lack of documentation in the SDK and in the usual Microsoft sites (MSDN, TechNet).  Often times you would run into issues or questions that simply had not been fleshed out or even addressed in the SDK.

This time around with SharePoint 2010, you will have the opportunity to access and submit feedback on code samples and snippets to be included in the SDK as they are released.  Additionally, you will be able to submit your own code samples for inclusion in the RTM SDK! Submitters will get full credit for their contributions…and we will all reap the benefit of having a more complete, consolidated collection of samples to get started building the next generation of killer apps on the SharePoint 2010 platform!

Here is the original post from Andrew May on the Microsoft SharePoint Developer Documentation Team Blog:

Got Code?

Contribute a Code Sample and Get Your Name in the SharePoint 2010 SDK

We’re looking for experienced SharePoint developers to share their skill and technical expertise with the SharePoint community. You’ll help your fellow SharePoint developers, and receive full attribution in the SharePoint SDK for doing so!

What we’re looking for are short code samples, what we on documentation teams tend to think of as ‘snippets’. A handful of lines that illustrate a discreet task or show how to exercise a specific piece of the object model, rather than a full-blown solution that addresses an entire scenario. Basically, the short code samples you’d find in a typical reference topic like this one.

In particular, we’re on the hunt for code samples that do one or more of the following:

· Show developers how to accomplish common SharePoint tasks programmatically

· Illustrate best coding practices in using the SharePoint object model

· Demonstrate how to avoid pitfalls when using lesser-known areas of the SharePoint object model

· Or otherwise show off the power and flexibility of developing SharePoint solutions

If you’re an experienced SharePoint developer, you probably have a toolbox of code snippets like these already; sections of code that you use over and over to perform the same routine tasks, or pieces of code that you’re particularly proud of having come up with as work-arounds for some of the, um, “eccentricities” of the SharePoint object model.

What we’re asking is that you share your hard-won knowledge by letting us publish your code samples in our SDK reference topics. In return, we want to make sure you get full credit, by giving you attribution right in the topic where the code sample appears. This includes a link to your company site. You can see an early example of this in this reference topic for the CreateTaskWithContentType class.

The SDK gets more real-world code samples, and you get increased visibility within the larger SharePoint developer community.

To submit a code sample, just shoot us an email including your code sample(s) at gotcode@microsoft.com. Include a short description of what each code sample does, or what task you would use the code sample to accomplish. Oh, and if there are any prerequisites that need to be specified for your code sample to run successfully, that’d be great to know as well. (For example, the code sample on the SPList class topic lists a few using directives, and the existence of an .aspx page containing a label control, as prerequisites.)

I’ve attached a zip with our code sample guidelines and some sample data to this post. These are the best practices for writing code samples that we give our external partners who write samples for us. For the best chance of getting your sample included in the SDK, take a look at the best practices for code snippets (the guidelines are really short, and won’t take more than a few minutes to review, I promise.)

Now, since the SharePoint 2010 Betas aren’t due out until November, for now we’re talking about code snippets written against the WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007 object models. Go ahead and send them our way. And once you’ve worked with the SharePoint 2010 Betas a bit, you’ll undoubtedly create some useful or illuminating code samples in fairly short order. Send those our way as well. You could end up with a byline in the SharePoint SDK!

Any questions, feel free to ping gotcode@microsoft.com, or leave a comment.

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