On Thu, 13 Jun 2002, Glyn Normington wrote: > Costin: I'm aiming more at a radical re-architecting rather than a > re-factoring. My goal is not primarily to preserve the current function as > some of this is there by accident of the current structure.
I was afraid of that... If I remember corectly, axis is a 're-architecting' of xml-soap. What makes you think the next one will be the right one ? And when does it stop, I assume someone else will start re-architecting your version when it's almost ready ( by that time is very likely it'll be close to a real product, i.e. with all the compromises and complexities). Do you plan to work on this all alone ? Because if not, others will come with ideas and requirements and whatever you plan will change. You obviously have all the rights to start any project - and I think we ( as users ) have all rights to tell you this is not good for us. I totally agree axis has become too complex, it's hard for new people to contribute, etc. There are some amazing ideas in it, and a lot of the normal complexity that you find in any project that matures and has more than one contributor. But IMHO the only way to fix this is the hard way - starting with the existing system and cutting the crap, create a set of simpler interfaces and remove interdependencies, etc. At least that's my experience with several 're-architecture' attemtps, including Axis itself. It all looks wonderfull on paper and the first draft, and it repeats most of the errors and gets all the complexity of the original ( because of natural evolution ). The only way to get to a simple and modular system is to start with a real system and refactor it continuously, based on the features and code that gets added. > All: I agree that 1.0 should be shipped before any re-architecture finds > its way into the mainstream. However, I believe there is no better time > than now for me, and possibly others who are not contributing to 1.0, to > start actively working on re-architecture so there is something tangible to > discuss immediately after 1.0. Don't forget that no 're-architecture' is perfect, and you'll need to get it accepted by the mainstream people. And that won't probably happen if they are not involved in the design process. Costin
