[development] Is there a how-to contribute to core for the impatient?

I'd like to contribute to core or at least test some of the patches, check issues etc... for pg, and if I'm lucky enough propose some patch too. I can think of this bunch of activities/knowledge I should have before I can contribute to core: - build up a testing environment - checkout HEAD d6 - apply proposed patches in issues - write/correct patches - coding standards Anything to add to this: http://drupal.org/node/28245 and http://drupal.org/coding-standards ? -- Ivan Sergio Borgonovo http://www.webthatworks.it