On 5/17/06 6:00 PM, "Jonathan Lundell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> At 10:57 AM -0400 5/17/06, Patrick Woolsey wrote: >> * Per the suggestions about username matching, idle timers, etc. for >> changing how the usage checker works, it's my experience that all >> too often, the more clever one tries to be about such things :-), >> the worse the ultimate result often is -- best to keep things as >> simple as possible. > > Surely BBEdit's code is clever from time to time, even at the expense > of greatest possible simplicity, when the cleverness accrues to the > benefit of the user. (And the threshold of cleverness necessary to > implement an idle timer can hardly be very high.) Programming cleverness usually lies in simplifying a program, not complicating it. I'm with BBSW on this; sure, it's not hugely complicated to start tracking idle time, but it means having a process constantly running, sucking down CPU cycles *all the time* (as opposed to - what is it now, a single check at startup?). This slows your Mac down, even if it's only by a tiny amount; it cuts into your battery life on a laptop (the processor will never be able to go into rest mode, even if everything else is idling); the VM system won't be able to swap BBEdit out to inactive memory even if it's otherwise idling... Plus, it's one more thing to QC with new releases (and since it's always active, it'll probably need to be QC'ed/checked for interactions with every new release), and one more potential point of failure. It's not elegant, it's *kludgy*, and thus offends my sense of programming cleverness. :) Sure, it's not like it's going to kill BBEdit if it's put in, but putting it would be a hassle and would have real costs, and for what? To 'fix' a problem that IIRC only one person has seen fit to complain about on the list, in two years? Travis Butler [EMAIL PROTECTED] ...Cats are the proof of a higher purpose to the universe. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Have a feature request? Not sure the software's working correctly? If so, please send mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, not to the list. List FAQ: <http://www.barebones.com/support/lists/bbedit_talk.shtml> List archives: <http://www.listsearch.com/BBEditTalk.lasso> To unsubscribe, send mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
