I think this idea needs further consideration.
Summarizing the earlier discussion, there were four schools of
thought:
1. This is a good idea.
2. This is a good idea, but let's use github branches.
3. This is a good idea, but let's use newsgroup postings.
4. This is a good idea, but let's use the review queue page on
the wiki.
I'd hate to see this good idea not get implemented because we
can't agree on the mechanism. The suggestions above are not
mutually exclusive.
It seems to me that there are two primary requirements for this
to be effective:
1. There should be ONE place where people can go to see what's
under development.
2. That ONE place needs to be easy to find, as in easy for
someone visiting the D programming language website for the very
first time.
Here's my proposal: (Pay attention, there's a quiz at the end.)
Add another menu item under the "Community" menu to the left
here. Call it "Under Development" or "Work in Progress" or
"Experimental Library modules" or redefine the "Projects &
Libraries" link. Whatever. The link would lead to a list of
modules under development. These could be github branches,
dsource projects, review queue items, etc. It doesn't matter how
the project is sourced or maintained.
Anyone who has a module under development could add a URL to
their project page at that ONE place.
These could be in any stage of development -- just a proposal or
maybe just a good idea, a formal specification, a beta version, a
complete library, or even a wish list...)
There may be other, better ways to implement this, but I would
find it very useful to have that ONE place.
For example, I spent quite a bit of time, spread over a couple of
weeks, looking for a D language statistics library. It turns out
there is at least one.
Quiz: 1) Where is it? 2) Why isn't it being considered for Phobos?
On Monday, 19 December 2011 at 16:46:46 UTC, Piotr Szturmaj wrote:
Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
On Sun, 18 Dec 2011 10:00:35 -0500, Piotr Szturmaj
<[email protected]> wrote:
Peter Alexander wrote:
On 18/12/11 2:18 PM, Piotr Szturmaj wrote:
"Exp" code may be shipped with each release just like "etc"
code. Users
using experimental code should be aware of breaking changes
that may be
introduced with each release or even with each commit.
Thoughts?
Isn't this just reinventing git branches?
If people have their work-in-progress branches on GitHub
then people can
already try them out, submit pull requests etc. That's the
whole point
of a branch.
Yes, but what I propose is the centralized repository for that
branches (eventual candidates to std). Currently no one knows
all
modules that are being worked on.
I think it would be enough to post something on D.announce and
then
whoever is interested can watch your branch. Maybe even a wiki
page
could categorize the branches.
I agree with others that github's forking and branching
mechanism works
quite well for developing multi-user projects. For example,
both Lars
Kyllingstad and I are working on a new std.process module,
he's doing
the main design and unixen implementations, I'm doing the
windows
implementation.
Okay, I agree too. The core problem is that modules after
inclusion become official/public instantly and API must be
frozen. Eventual API issues discovered after the inclusion are
often impossible to fix because nobody "likes" deprecations and
breaking changes.
So, instead of making modules public from the start, I would
rather give some additional "beta" time for them. Interested
users may check out these modules in the "real world" during
that time. Also, beta code may introduce breaking changes
without worrying.
I think review is a requirement of course but it is often not
enough. Some things may not be catched during review. Code must
be extensively _used_ to prove its quality.
If you agree with me, there is only one additional rule to add
to Phobos contribution process. After a review and voting
process, add module to etc (or exp, whatever) for one month.
Then move it to std if no/little changes were made during that
trial. If changes are big the trial period should be extended.
