FreeLists / openbeos / [openbeos] Re: A though

["Urias McCullough" <umccullough@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/31/07, viktor muntzing <viktor.muntzing@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I think a requirement for it to work is that everyone is aware of it. If you
> violate specifications you would break most of the parts.
> I Don't think it can not work well, is more of a question of adoption to the
> diagrams.
>
> Apparently most of the developers are already aware of the interfaces etc
> and diagrams would just add overhead as what I have noticed from previus
> posts on the mailing list from the early development.

I'm going to throw my opinion out since I'm a software developer by
trade, even though I'm not one of the Haiku devs.

The problem with making it into a full engineering situation is that
it tends to take the fun out of the process. Hardcore devs generally
like to sling code and don't necessarily want to consult diagrams
every few minutes. It sort of takes the fun out of the coding. It's
like forcing specifications for a piece of artwork.

That said, sometimes there are tasks that maybe aren't much fun to do
anyway, or require some amount of understanding of detailed
specifications before coding can begin (drivers, etc.)

Anyhow, I think perhaps trying to force a modern software engineering
process upon a huge volunteer effort is likely to cause more harm than
good at the moment. Perhaps if there was a corporate entity sponsoring
some of the development, those developers could benefit from such a
process.

On the other hand, drawing up specifications in order to write test
cases and test frameworks would be an extremely useful process even if
it doesn't feed into the development from the start.

Anyhow, just MHO,

Urias