[Rails-devel] Design and development thoughts.

[<ia...@co...>]

Has anyone read through the archive of the 18xx-softdev yahoo list? Many design ideas were actively discussed some years ago, but the list is near-dormant these days. Many people had many different ideas and approaches - little concrete resulted because there was insufficient agreement about even something as basic as the development language.

This (i.e. rails:18xx) project has a better chance of getting somewhere since it has started with the objective being a Java application. I would strongly advise everyone to read the 18xx-softdev archive in order to avoid major wheel reinvention exercises. I posted a number of suggestions regarding stock market definitions, which I still feel form a good approach. I'd also be interested in going back through my other game-component definition suggestions if other group members thought they made sense.

Separately, I took a quick browse in the CVS repository, and see that no thought yet has gone into proper package structuring and the overall namespace to be used. These are important factors in any Java project, even more so when the development is collaborative and deployment public. It is also considered bad form to check .class files into a CVS repository: a jar of a specific release cut is fine, but individual binaries are a bad thing.

Brett should also specify which version of the JDK the development requires - are you intending to use Java 5, or will JDK1.4.x do? Only use Java 5 if you want to use the new features, and then your policy for accepting submissions should include use of the Java 5 features.

I would also recommend using the checkstyle Eclipse plugin for checking coding standards. Brett can develop a checkstyle configuration that defines his coding standards and deposit in CVS. Anyone submitting code should have passed it through checkstyle first, making life easier for Brett and the submitter.

These development method points may sound pedantic now, but if the project is to succeed, these will need to be addressed at some point. My day job is in development of serious client-server Java apps, and I understand the benefits of getting this stuff right, today.

Iain.