At 5:22 PM -0500 3/16/00, Jochen F. Rick wrote:
>I think it is time I wrote as to what my vision for Swiki is and how I
>see others fitting into it.
>
>You may have noticed that I still consider Swiki betaware.
Yep. But it's just such *fine* and useful betaware.
> To me, this
>means that I am not guaranteeing anything and I am free to change any
>code I like. I feel that Swiki needs a strong, flexible and elegant core,
>before I officially release it. Right now, I don't feel this to be the
>case.
Agreed.
> The code in SwikiRequest, security, initialization, and talking to
>Comanche needs to get cleaned up. At the same time, the admin swiki also
>still needs major work and the uploads area could use some work too.
I think that adding new storage backends, cross-swiki anythings (see
http://wiki.cs.uiuc.edu/), forms/surveys, the kitchen sink, and a partridge
in a pair tree all need a bit of work too. In your copious spare time, of
course! ;)
>Until I am satisfied with these areas and a few others, I will not
>officially release Swiki. Right now, I'm estimating that there will not
>be a Beta 13. Probably, the difference between Beta 12 and Release 1 will
>be bug fixes and better documentation.
Er...I forget what number we're on!
[snip]
> Probably,
>Bert and Bijan are facing the same problems. So, this seems to me like
>the best strategy for this development to be productive for everyone:
Problems? Me? WHAHAHAHAHAHA! *Never!*
Ok, maybe a little, but I'm sure it's my fault!
>Phase I (Before Release 1)
>1) Let me know what you'd like to see in the core software. By this I mean
> things like Bert requesting that it be possible to do partial returns.
Do we have a Swiki for this? (and for 2?)
>2) Let me know what problems you are having with implementing new features.
> For instance, lack of documentation (besides asking Bijan), not being
> able to fully support a different language in just files, etc.
>3) Forgive me that some of your code may not work in an upgrade.
Welllll, *OK*, but only because you keep adding cool new features ;)
> Although,
> messing around in templates, actions, settings, etc. will probably be
> okay.
>
>Phase II (After Release 1)
>1) We need new packages. So far, I have refs, docs, and forward packages.
> Once the core is stabilized, creating new packages (or goodies) will
> become essential. I know that Bijan is working on a new formatter. I
> would like for goodies like these to be just as available as the
> standard packages.
Yep. Which reminds me that a formatter plugins would be nice. I'd also
encourge turning some of the "canonical" formatter instances into
classes...just plumb easier for people to find and muck with.
(I also keep meaning and forgetting to point to David Smith's stuff--in
particular Squeak Formatted Output.)
>2) We need more tools. I realize that working with FileList is not
> particularly pleasant. One tool we could definitely use is something
> that allows for easier editing of templates, actions, etc.
Something like my SwikiAdminBrowser?
> I feel it
> is a bit premature to work on this before the core has settled.
Er...so I've found :)
One suggestion I have is like Stephan's Pair's SSP addition (this is sorta
what I have planned for SwikiAdminBrowser). Something like the standard
tools would be very nice.
I envision being able to read in, say, an actions folder into a
xxBookActions and xxxPageActions. Or perhaps each swiki really could
correspond to a class. I started faking this by, for example, subclassing
BlockContext to store the source code, when I realize, "Hey, why am I
*duplicating* all this?" I'd like to get changes and versions back for
actions et al.
> But,
> after release 1, these types of tools would be great.
My only qualm is that the above strategy may work better with a bit of
support from the core.
>3) We could use other storage mechanisms. Right now, XML is hard coded in,
> but other things such as databases might make some sense.
MySQL, I hope, on the way!
>So, I hope that gives sort of a vision of where Swiki is going in the not
>too distant future.
Yes! And it's very exciting!
May I suggest a "Golden Master" release, to give folks time to get their
stuff synched up. It'd be a lot of fun to release a bunch of "third party"
stuff with the core release, all at once. Let's not just knock their socks
off, but knock them into the next county!
Cheers,
Bijan.
