>>OK, you probably don't want it to be another mailing list
>>then. But a web
>>bbs that allows you to post replies to code.
kind of ... I would like to see someplace to post _working_ code (complete
or snippets) with an explanation of what you are trying to accomplish, and
with any issues/special circumstances that you had to take into account. You
would post to one of several categories (Database, XML, OOP, etc.). Maybe
have the functionality for reviewers to alter the code and have the site
produce a diff automagically from the changes. You could maybe see the code
with changes that were made by a select number of people (maybe people who
have highly moderated suggestions/code?).
Possibly have in each section for links to resources that can be moderated
for usefulness in each of these categories (this may already exist -- if it
does, please let me know where! :))
>>Yet such code reviews are
>>extremely time
>>consuming so I could see people donating time once a month to
>>do it but not
>>much more realistically (based on the fickle *real* workload
>>we all have).
This is very true, and I also think there would be the whole "critical mass"
issue (people won't use it until it's big / it won't be big until people use
it). I think there would certainly need to be clear guidelines as well (TBD)
>>Anyway, however you want to go about it, good luck.
I think that I will try to come up with a proposal over the weekend (or at
least by the end of the week - Saturday is my b-day :)). Perhaps at that
time a consensus of whether this is worthwhile could be achieved?
>>Usually people go to the archive when they have a problem not
>>pre-emptively. And I think that although the code someone has
>>posted for
>>comments on the main mailing list may no longer be there, the
>>comments
>>about that code remain and usually with snippets of the code
>>in question.
{snip}
>>I don't think this list lacks for discussion on code that
>>people might post
>>(although lately its this advocacy stuff). So although it is
>>better to have
>>a separate code repository, I am not sure that people would
>>flock to it
>>enough to make it better than posting the code to the list
>>(as a URL) and
>>discussing it here.
This could even go beyond coding (I am brainstorming here ... unencumbered
by the thought process). Perhaps create an area for project plans, hardware
setup, etc. (of course relating to mod_perl). I find that my biggest issue
is usually not coding problems per se, but "what is the best way to go about
doing this?" or "did I miss something in the code that I will regret
later?". These are my biggest itches. As I mentioned previously, I have no
one to bounce things off of. I am in Ohio which is the land of MS/ASP/VB. I
have been able to convince my employers that mod_Perl is good technology
(mostly based upon speed). I don't want to prove the decision wrong by some
silly mistake (I've been OK so far).
Most of the resources that I can find on the net have to do with "I can't
get this to work" and not "Is this good?". I realize that most of this
knowledge comes with experience, but this could be a place to bounce ideas
around and perhaps jumpstart that experience. Your earlier comment about
this being what open source is all about may be very accurate here. Am I
describing SourceForge? CPAN? ML's? something else?
Also please let me know if this is trailing too far off topic. Is there a
more appropriate place to discuss this?
Best Regards,
Dave Homsher
Webmaster,
MACtac IT
