That hour of searching-and-not-finding got me to thinking...
Is it just me, or is the collection of "data-structure" modules on CPAN
somewhat difficult to discover/navigate?
Maybe the frustration is just exaggerated by the fact that it takes just
as long to not-find a module for a simple data structure as it takes to
not-find a module for some big chunk of functionality? You do the
legwork, find nothing, look at the clock and think "I could have
written this and uploaded it by now." This is of course "slightly
optimistic" or even "false economy" because we all know the burden of
testing and maintenance (and yetanotheritis.) But being empty-handed
after an hour of searching and reading will always feel less rewarding
than having created something. This then contributes to even more
yetanotheritis as we continually search through and read more
not-quite-it modules.
Would a sort of taggable search scheme and/or collaborative
categorization help? That is, "implements functionality" modules (e.g.
Net::FTP, LWP::UserAgent) seem easier to find and navigate than data
structure modules. Maybe that has something to do with the subtle
differences in data structures and the number of possible names for any
given structure/variation?
Or, is this just yet-another-variation on "searching 45k+ modules is
hard"?
--Eric
--
"Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value."
--Murphy's Constant
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