What wmii needs is to be finished, that it is about god damned time. Wmii-3
should have been the last major wmii release, but garbeam's extreme CADT[1]
means that  as much polishing is left to do in wmii-3 as it was in wmii-2.5

What is needed is to stop fiddling around with crap like shortcuts (I think
shortcuts have been changed at least once a week since the project was
started), and get all the important stuff like tag bars finished.

And "computer science" might be anything, but it is not a science[2]. It is
everything about a good sense of taste; and the problem garbeam has is not only
that he has no taste, but that he has to change his mind every day; that makes
it impossible for wmii to archive the most important thing for any software
project: conceptual integrity[3].

uriel

[1] http://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html
[2] See
http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/classes/6.001/abelson-sussman-lectures/videos/Lecture-1a.avi
[3] See The Mythical Man Month, which every programmer should read before they
even think about writing a line of code.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201835959/


On 5/28/06, David Arroyo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I don't want to comment on the specifics here, but if you are
>talking about things for wmii-4, then *please* do not be affraid
>of radical change.

I find this a very improper way of thinking, and a harmful
attitude for the development of wmii. One should not be afraid to
make changes. But one should be cautious. I'm not a computer
scientist, I don't know if I ever will be. However, reading all
the lists I'm subscribed to, it appears that the *science* of
computer science is lost somewhere. There's a scientific method
and everything, that tells you to think through a feature, to
research about it, and to plan its implementation before you even
begin an 'experiment.' Now, I know wmii is a hobby project, but
this method has not been followed all that well. A change is good
if it makes sense. It's usually a natural progression of a basic,
simple idea. Nature works that way.

The worst thing for wmii right now is "new features", where they
aren't needed. Wmii is already more usable than most window
managers, and has done a lot of things right. If anything, we
should be removing features that don't fit and refining those
that work well. After tag bars, I daresay wmii will be close to
the stage that requires art, and fine fingers, so to speak.
Thinking things through from all angles will avoid extra work and
get us to wmii-4 much quicker than random experimentation.

regards,
sleepydog

--
"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go."

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