cpp-netlib-devel

[cpp-netlib-devel] Project/release manager

[Glyn M. <gly...@gm...>]

Dear all,


In the interests of getting some momentum going with this project and given
the fact that this list has seen a number of people state they're already
willing to donate time and code, I have decided I am willing to donate some
time to becoming a project / release manager.  What especially interests me
about this project is the obvious interest for network support in C++, the
potentially large developer base and the fact that I can learn a lot more
about this kind of project development.

I feel that the main challenge is that, since there are already a few people
with code ready to contribute, its necessary to co-ordinate everybody's
efforts rather than to innovate.  Dean has made an excellent start with the
message template and it shouldn't take very long to have something workable
rather soon.

If there's anything you feel you need to discuss, please bring it up here or
I'm available by private e-mail.

The first thing to do is to finish the architecture document on the wiki and
some initial specs, so that we can begin to proceed.

I'm looking forward to (continuing) working with you,
Glyn

Re: [cpp-netlib-devel] Project/release manager

[Peter S. <si...@cr...>]

Hi Glyn,

first of all, thank you for the effort to revive the cpp-netlib
project. I don't believe that a free software project needs
leadership, but every non-trivial effort needs coordination because
it is impossible for everyone to think about everything in great
detail.

Many contributors to this list are extremely knowledgeable and have
already written significant amounts of code. A problem is that we,
the people who spent weeks and months of our spare time to write
that code, have a tendency to think "I need my code polished and
tested so that it can become part of Boost". This perceived honor is
our egoistical motivation for participating in an altruistic effort
-- a free software project.

It's only natural, but it is a problem, because we should not be
thinking about our code or code we already have, we should ask
ourselves: what do the users want? What does an everyday C++
programmer want to do with the Internet, but can't, because it is
too difficult? What kind of functionality would he or she love to
find in our library?

The ability to perform an HTTP request with a handful of function
calls is obviously appealing. The ability to parse the message text
into RFC-compliant data structures is a part of that task -- so are
the pretty-printers to format the data structures into message text.
It should be possible to performed any number of simultaneous
requests asynchronously. Some notion on keep-alive support is
required, and a connection cache might even take advantage of that
transparently.

To offer this kind of functionality would be quite a challenge. To
get there, we need to agree on the user API. Once we know what the
user's program will look like when he uses our code, we can divide
this huge problem into a number of fairly small problems, assign a
volunteer to each of those sub-tasks, and start hacking away.

I feel the best approach to jump-starting this mailing list is to
work out a readable document that describes our goal. A collection
of random classes just doesn't do it. You seem to have a high-level
perspective on all those problems, Glyn. I feel that qualifies you
very much for the task of coordinating this effort. Us in-depth
experts all too frequently find it hard to let go of all the detail
and look at the big picture. Someone has to, or this project won't
go anywhere.

Anyway, that's my perspective. Thank you for sharing yours.

Best regards,
Peter

Re: [cpp-netlib-devel] Project/release manager

[Glyn M. <gly...@gm...>]

Hi Peter,

On 31 Jul 2007 23:20:49 +0200, Peter Simons < si...@cr...> wrote:
>
> Hi Glyn,
>
> first of all, thank you for the effort to revive the cpp-netlib
> project. I don't believe that a free software project needs
> leadership, but every non-trivial effort needs coordination because
> it is impossible for everyone to think about everything in great
> detail.

<snip />

I have to say I'm in complete agreement with everything you said in your
e-mail.  I'm happy that it looks like there are others here who share the
same perspective on this project


It's only natural, but it is a problem, because we should not be
> thinking about our code or code we already have, we should ask
> ourselves: what do the users want? What does an everyday C++
> programmer want to do with the Internet, but can't, because it is
> too difficult? What kind of functionality would he or she love to
> find in our library?


These are indeed the relevant questions we should be asking ourselves.


I feel the best approach to jump-starting this mailing list is to
> work out a readable document that describes our goal.

Yep, and that'll be the first thing that I'll be prodding Dean to continue
to do on the wiki, since he already has some clear ideas as to what he
wants.  From there we can discuss what to do, bringing in other people to
find out what they might want from our library and begin to make some
progress.


A collection
> of random classes just doesn't do it. You seem to have a high-level
> perspective on all those problems, Glyn. I feel that qualifies you
> very much for the task of coordinating this effort. Us in-depth
> experts all too frequently find it hard to let go of all the detail
> and look at the big picture. Someone has to, or this project won't
> go anywhere.


Thanks for the confidence, its good to know we're on the same course.
Regards,
Glyn

Re: [cpp-netlib-devel] Project/release manager

[Dean M. B. <mik...@gm...>]

Hi Glyn!

On 7/31/07, Glyn Matthews <gly...@gm...> wrote:
<snipped very insightful message>
>
> The first thing to do is to finish the architecture document on the wiki and
> some initial specs, so that we can begin to proceed.
>

I agree. Thanks Glyn for stepping up and taking this spot! It's been
apparent that I haven't been able to keep the momentum going with all
that's been happening in real life lately... That being said I look
forward to writing more code towards a release soon -- or helping
integrate already existing code into the project.

> I'm looking forward to (continuing) working with you,
> Glyn
>

Same here. Thanks again Glyn!

-- 
Dean Michael C. Berris
http://cplusplus-soup.blogspot.com/
mikhailberis AT gmail DOT com
+63 928 7291459