Re: [Gramps-devel] 'Options creep'

[Douglas S. B. <db...@cs...>]

On Sat, November 3, 2007 11:01 pm, Brian Matherly wrote:

> That's because there is a single lone *ONE* way to do it. I call it the
> RIGHT way. Postmodernists would like you to believe that product design is
> an art - like painting a picture. But that simply isn't true. Design isn't
> a form of self expression. And it isn't subject to one's opinion. Design
> is a science. There are right and wrong answers.

Brian,

Of course you can certainly run GRAMPS any way that you wish and proclaim
whatever you want to be correct. But, for the record, there are plenty of
people that don't agree with your proclamations. Not only do I feel that
design is an art, but so is science! No scientist that I know believes
they have the "right" answer, but rather are working towards a better
understanding---and always will.

But I don't want to argue about that. I'd like to make GRAMPS a project
that a variety of people can work together. Such proclamations come off as
very confrontational. I don't think it is a coincidence that there are few
(if any) women that work on GRAMPS. Perhaps that doesn't bother you. I
think a diverse set of views can make a group stronger.

But, does it really matter that some developers think they are artists,
and some think they are just searching for the correct solution? Not if
they agree. In fact, I suspect that many would see a beautiful, elegant,
artistic solution as "correct", at least until the next better solution
comes along. Just like science!

-Doug

>>Worded differently, that statement means that if two people cannot
>>agree on exactly how something should look, one of them must be wrong.
>
> Nope. What is means is that if two people disagree, 90% of the time they
> are both wrong. The right answer lies somewhere in between. Or somewhere
> else altogether.
>
> Design is a collaborative process. It REQUIRES that people work together.
> Each brings his own perspective to the table. This process is time
> consuming. And at times can get quite heated. But that's what it takes to
> design something right.
>
> On the first day of my Software Engineering class, I ask my students how
> much time they think they will spend actually writing code (the
> construction phase of software) when they are employed as software
> engineers. The answer usually lands on 80-90% of the time. Then I tell
> them that they should expect to spend 10-20% of their time actually
> writing code and the rest of the time figuring out what to build and how
> to build it. They don't believe me. So I spend the rest of the semester
> teaching them about all the non-coding activities that are involved in
> software engineering. I have never had a student come back to me and tell
> me I am wrong. I believe this is for one of two reasons: 1) I was right,
> and they only spend 20% of their time writing code, or 2) They spend much
> more than 20% of their time coding, and they are suffering all the
> inflictions I warned them about - so they are too embarrassed to admit it
> to me.
>
> Good design is HARD WORK. This is why many companies and projects just
> skip it. But they suffer for it in quality (usability, maintainability,
> scalability, etc.).
>
> Personally, I'm willing to put in the time it takes to find the right
> solutions for Gramps. I don't care if it takes me 100 emails for every 10
> lines of code. And I expect the same out of all the developers. Being a
> member of the Gramps community means putting aside our personal agendas
> and having a commitment to making Gramps the best it can be. This approach
> may scare away a few people who don't want to work this way, but that is a
> risk we need to be willing to take. That's why we call it the "Gramps
> Community". People who don't want to belong to this community usually get
> frustrated and bored and move on.
>
>>The problem I have with our reluctance to add options is that I
>>actually would like to further customize the main "export" I have from
>>GRAMPS -- the NarrativeWeb output.  But there is a lot of pressure
>>from within GRAMPS not to change it.  I'm conflicted as to what to do.
>
> We are not reluctant to add options to Gramps. We do it all the time -
> when it is appropriate.
>
> You have me concerned with your use of the word "export". The narrative
> web report is not intended to be used as an export. It is intended to be a
> report. Reports are fundamentally different than exports. Exports are a
> way to contain all the information without context. Reports provide a
> subset of information with context. Another way to think of reports is as
> a "view" into the information. It might take many different types of
> "views" to get a complete picture of the information. If you are trying to
> use the narrative web report as an export, I think you are going to be
> disappointed.
>
>>I was thinking I could factor out the base functionality of NW, and
>>then have 2 derived classes...something like the "current"
>>NarrativeWeb and then another version that outputs things slightly
>>differently.  But this means a whole new report to maintain versus
>>several options within an existing report.  I'm not certain having a
>>new report which is 85% the same as an existing one is beneficial to
>>GRAMPS.
>
>
> If your intention is to carry out your desires without regard for the
> right solution for Gramps, then I'm afraid this is your only option. But
> based on your "export" comment above, I suspect that the NarrativeWeb
> report is actually far from what you really want and what you'll end up
> with is something completely different.
>
> ~Brian
>
>
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-- 
Douglas S. Blank
Associate Professor, Bryn Mawr College
http://cs.brynmawr.edu/~dblank/
Office: 610 526 6501