Hi Tim, On Dec 10, 2007 3:39 PM, root <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > As a long term (since 1997) open source developer I have to make the > comment that you have a bit of a "corporate bias" when you suggest > "relinquishing control of logistics to non-experts". > > There are a lot of tasks that make up any software project and any > given person has some task they do better than others (e.g. math). > I often find people who say "I'm a mathematician" as a reason why > they don't document, package, integrate, and maintain their code. > I often find people who can't be bothered with source code control, > patching, merging, or, in this case, polish-package-distribution tasks.
My bias is probably more academic than corporate. Sage is mathematics software, and the "experts" I was speaking of are mathematicians and physicists. In this context, "expertise" refers to specialized knowledge required for working on the core functionality of the system. This use of the term is not intended to demean people whose expertise lies elsewhere than mathematics but who can contribute to Sage. I am familiar with the sort of "developers as precious children" behaviour you describe; I have even been guilty of it from time to time. My point was not to provide an excuse for people _not_ to step up, but to point out where to find people _to_ step up. Note this comment applies solely to those tasks which do _not_ require advanced domain knowledge. Creating specs, tests, etc. for the code should be required of developers, not dumped on someone else. Steve --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://sage.scipy.org/sage/ and http://modular.math.washington.edu/sage/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
