questions around an idea i have for a feature in lyx

[matan guedj]

Hello,
I've had a few questions revolving around an idea that I had recently
trying to teach myself pgfplots.
I'm fairly new to LyX and LaTeX in general (started using both in January
2024) and I'm also no programmer (I've had an introductory course in C but
that's about it) but I wanted to add a new feature to LyX - a plotting tool.
What I'm thinking of is on the math bar or some other bar, add a plot icon
that will open a window with all the parameters for the mostly used plots
(2D/3D, Cartesian/polar/spherical..., scatter/bars/pie..., parametric
curves or surfaces, implicit functions, vector fields, and more).
I'm still learning pgfplots but it follows a fairly simple and well-defined
formula for most of the plots so it most likely can be automated.
And now it opens some questions:

1. Is there a way I can start work on it as a personal project (I
specifically want it to be a personal thing, to see if I'm capable of this,
and also it can't look bad on the resume), and when I believe it's done and
an acceptable feature, present it to the developers and implement it for
the next version? (2.5.x probably whenever this will come up)

2. I have also already been working with LyX on a device, so if I'm to try
to develop it (meaning I have some interaction with a copy/mirror of the
source code) should I just for safety do it on a completely new device
where I don't have lyx installed? (I'm mostly thinking about if I develop
it on the device I already am using lyx in, it'll lead to errors in the
regular lyx files I'm using)

and the following question is already going a bit down in the details.
3. I also thought that the output on the LyX document itself would be a new
environment (specifically like the math environment, with the
instant-preview feature to render those plots in the lyx document itself
like the math is already rendered with the instant preview) so that it'll
cut the need to compile the document to check if the plot is what you
really wanted, so how do I create such an environment?

P.s. I'm probably coming of as an over-enthusiastic guy with a goal beyond
its current reach but I want to see to it, with no deadlines and anything
just the joy of creating a good feature. (I'm a university student with not
a lot of time, the first year of EE so I'll work on this in my free time,
mostly during summer and winter break, that's why I'm saying it won't be
fast, and I particularly want to be able at the end of it add it to GitHub
mostly to write it as an experience of developing open-source feature for a
known product) all I'll be asking for is probably some guidance and help
along the way, which I'm sure the mail listing and the online forums will
help with.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Matan
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