Thanks Alex. Functional descriptions are excellent. By "How x should be done (in another language)" I really meant a list of things that the code needs to be able to do to work with WiaB - so slightly more specific than just 'what it does' - 'what it needs to do' or 'what it is supposed to do' is more helpful. -- Nathanael Abbotts
Email: [email protected] Wave: [email protected] Twitter: @natabbotts (http://twitter.com/natabbotts) On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 03:56, Alex North <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for offering to lead improvements to the docs, Nathanael. I'd be > enthusiastic to advise and provide knowledge to fill the gaps for anyone > building some documentation. For the items you mentioned: > > - OT: we are very aware the documentation is lacking. The sad fact is that > the algorithms we ended up with are very complex in a way that doesn't lend > itself to succinct description. Nevertheless Googlers are working on > producing more full documentation of the algorithms involved. I'm not aware > of anything that still needs to be implemented (though there are plenty of > ideas of things that could be) > - Client/server protocol: I'm working on design and implementation right > now. The initial proposal for messages exchanged is > http://www.waveprotocol.org/protocol/design-proposals/clientserver-protocol, > which will evolve in response to feedback and implementation. I don't > believe any encryption/signing is required above what some transport like > HTTPS provides. > - Federation: I'm not sure the WIAB community should produce instructions > on how to write code beyond a functional description of the protocol. I hope > our code comes to serve as an explanation, but documentation describing how > code works (as opposed to what it does) tends to rot quickly. > > A. > > On 11 December 2010 21:24, Nathanael Abbotts <[email protected]>wrote: > >> As the project plans to move to a new home at Apache, I feel quite >> strongly that it would be a very good idea to draft up some whitepapers (or >> similar) clarifying some things that there appears to be quite a bit of >> confusion about. >> Good code requires good planning and good documentation, and so far, I >> haven't seen much planning or documentation regarding a couple of very >> important things: >> >> - Operational Transformation >> - OT is one of the fundamental backends of the Wave Protocol, but >> the OT whitepaper is extremely lacking. For example, I got more >> information >> on the subject from a blog >> post<http://www.codecommit.com/blog/java/understanding-and-applying-operational-transformation>than >> from the whitepaper. >> - Detail is needed on the following: >> - The algorithms used by the project currently. >> - What still needs to be implemented. >> - Client implementation >> - More detail is needed on exactly what a client that wants to make >> use of the client-server protocol should do, e.g. >> - Encryption/Signing >> - Message protocols >> - Federation Protocol >> - Again, not just a 'how it works', but 'how you should do it if >> implementing a server in a different language' >> >> I hope to see some of these appearing soon, and would be more than happy >> to write them myself, if someone would kindly inform me on them. >> -- >> Nathanael Abbotts >> >> Email: [email protected] >> Wave: [email protected] >> Twitter: @natabbotts (http://twitter.com/natabbotts) >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Wave Protocol" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]<wave-protocol%[email protected]> >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/wave-protocol?hl=en. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Wave Protocol" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<wave-protocol%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/wave-protocol?hl=en. >
