On Sat, 2002-03-23 at 03:42, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Philipp K. Janert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote on 23/03/2002 09:47:31 AM: > > > > [snip] > > I don't think documentation is marketing - and what I tried to > > provide is simply documentation, not different in principle > > than Javadoc, only at a higher level. > > Except it also contained words such as immature, which border on the > emotional. >
I don't think he meant any harm. > [snip] > > - Users vs Developers > > I sense a certain ambivalence towards making Jakarta projects > > easier to use - Ted, for instance, points out that more users lead > > I'll take personal exception to that comment. My first patches to a > Jakarta project included documentation, and it's one of the main things > I've done on Latka at this point. I think we'd all like the projects to be > easier to use and understand, but I'll wager not everyone is comfortable > that they can do it themselves. > I get the same feeling often. Granted I think its probably part that most developers don't feel comfortable with their writing skills. > [snip] > [snip] > > That's great! The "News" section has also disappeared - I consider > > that a bit sad: I think some measure for the activity of the > > project would be helpful, but there may be better ways to determine > > it. I would have thought that the date of the most recent release > > would not be considered a "subjective judgement". > > 'News' as a measure of activity on a project is effectively useless. > Commits/month would be a lot better. > Hummm...I'll put that comment in the pile of "the most important activity in software development is programming" pile of things I disagree with. > Given most jakarta projects have a nightly build, releases by themselves > aren't as much of a milestone as people would think from the commercial > point of view. Take Struts for example. I happily built production systems > off pre-1.0 code for many months. There were no new betas, just updated > nightly builds. The code was actively being developed, but why waste time > on a release if there's no particular purpose? > Whoa...dude.. The release is the point when all the edges are smoothed and things are tied off. Release often. There is a difference between a build and a release. Its the point when an effort is made to make sure the documentation matches up and everything is *ready*. It a tracking point in the software lifecycle. If you never stop the bus then when can you paint it? > > > > The question is: Now what? > > > > Should we: > > - collect suggestions to improve the initial draft so that the > > majority here considers it a good thing to have and develop it > > further along those line? > > - leave it as is? > > - drop it altogether? > > - replace it with something altogether different? > > Well, it's already being improved by being changed in CVS, and could > easily be replaced with something altogether different over time. I'd much > rather see the commons stuff removed and a pointer in place to the > existing page, and some form of 'activity' in place of what was news. > -- > dIon Gillard, Multitask Consulting > Work: http://www.multitask.com.au > Developers: http://www.multitask.com.au/developers -- http://www.superlinksoftware.com http://jakarta.apache.org/poi - port of Excel/Word/OLE 2 Compound Document format to java http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/bugParade/bugs/4487555.html - fix java generics! The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote. -Ambassador Kosh -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
