Hi Andrew,

On 11/29/06, Andrew Dupont <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> The biggest difference between Prototype zealots and zealots of other
> libraries, I've found, is that the former embraces the term "philosophy
> differences" whereas the latter prefers "poor design decisions."

I have always thought that Prototype enthusiasts have to call them
philosophy differences because they wouldn't very well call their
chosen library poorly designed.


> This contrast in terminology mirrors the disparate reasons one would start a
> new JavaScript library:
>
> (1) To espouse one's own coding philosophy.

This is not me. I am developing a good library I can use for work. I
also want to share it because quality JavaScript is hard to come by
and I want Rails to benefit.


> (2) To "aspire to [a] high level of quality," suggesting that the
> authors of other libraries are lazy or aren't interested in doing good
> work.

I wouldn't suggest they are lazy or uninterested although it might be
true of some. I don't know. I think they are probably busy and don't
get around to it. I also think that some people maybe like making
fancy, exciting UI's but their personalities are not suited to the
kind of tedious and frustrating research that is necessary for
building cross-browser code library. It requires about 20 or more
browser versions on various operating systems.


> I make no value judgments about your code -- the parts I saw look quite
> nice -- but we've all been doing this a while, and we're all quite
> opinionated, so I recommend a change in tone.  Your initial e-mail
> overshadows the seeming quality of your framework and makes you sound
> like a self-infatuated person suffering from the late stages of
> Not-Invented-Here syndrome.  I guarantee nobody adopts a library solely
> on the library author's assurance that his code is Really Awesome.

One time here I tried to explain the places where I saw Prototype has
problems but the suggestions fell mostly on deaf ears. I did receive
an email of appreciation that someone was finally saying something on
this spinoffs list. Another person, who was very angry with me during
that discussion, emailed me an apology yesterday (months later) and
stated that he has stopped using Prototype. I now know of even more
weak spots in Prototype then I did at that time. So far I have decided
not to create a web page that lists all the spots I'm talking about
because I don't want to evoke more flaming and I really don't have
time. I won't be using Prototype.

It seems the Prototype community is very defensive about the code base
because they like how it feels to program with Prototype. They
maintain their alegence even in light of what I think is well reasoned
criticisim about where the library will fail.

I don't expect anyone to adopt Fork based on my claim of aspiring to
high quality code. I hope my claim encourages them to take a look and
see for themselves that the code is good. And if they can tell me why
it is not good then I would really like to know. And if I agree then I
will make changes.

Peter

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