On Nov 29, 5:09 pm, "Peter Michaux" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>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.

For a split second after I read this I was convinced you were trolling.

> 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.

First of all, you seem to be referring almost entirely to Sam in the
above paragraph, based on what little he reveals about himself to the
public.  It's not for me to defend Sam against allegations of poor
community maintenance; I think "having a day job" is enough.  But
that's why Thomas helps out (and, man, has he been doing awesome work
on the bug tracker recently), and that's why Prototype Core was
created.

Plenty of bugfixing is going on these days, most of it by Thomas --
leaving Sam to swoop in every few weeks and make a flurry of
big-picture commits.  To suggest that Prototype (or Dojo, or Mochikit,
or YUI) does not take browser compatibility seriously enough is to
erect a ludicrous straw man.

> 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.

Every man has the freedom to choose his own library.  But this is
starting to feel like a heated argument over a TV show.  If this were a
"Lost" mailing list and you posted about how you'd never liked the
show, then started trying to convince individual members of the list
that they were wrong and you were right, I think the surrealness of
this exchange would be more apparent.

There is no "right" or "wrong" library, in the same way that there is
no "right" or "wrong" language; use what makes you happy.  But you seem
to be saying that a library choice is more than a simple matter of
taste.

> 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 will admit that I like "how it feels" to program with Prototype, but
never before have I been made to feel *dirty* for it.  You've awakened
the guilt of my Catholic upbringing!


To make a larger point: yes, I understand how there are environments
where Prototype does not make sense, and where a fully-namespaced
solution would be far more suitable.  I have a great respect for
MochiKit and would probably use it if I could not use Prototype for
whatever reason.

But we're all grown-ups here, and we've all made that decision as
individuals, weighing the drawbacks of Prototype against the details of
the environment in which it will be used.  It's grating, then, to read
the words of someone who thinks he's better equipped to decide for me.

Incidentally, I think Prototype stands on its own merits apart from
Rails (many major non-RoR sites use it), but I support the idea of
abstracting the JS helper methods from any particular framework. Change
your talking points and I guarantee you'll be far better-received, both
on this list and in the Rails community at large.


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
 You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"Ruby on Rails: Spinoffs" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more options, visit this group at 
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-spinoffs?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Reply via email to