[Kde-games-devel] Quality-check for kdegames module created

[Ian Wadham]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dmitry Suzdalev" <dimsuz at gmail.com>
 > I just made a kdegames module to be quality-checked.
> Current results (all set to not ok :)):
> http://developer.kde.org/quality-check/results.php
> 
> More on subject:
> http://developer.kde.org/quality-check/
> 
What on earth is this all about?  I checked the links above
and am not much enlightened.  Does the script "results.php"
do some actual tests of "quality", whatever that may be, or
is it just a stub which (as a start) labels everything as not
conforming to the criteria?

Of the 14 "quality" criteria, only 3 or 4 mean anything to
me, and all of them need much more explanation and
documentation if I am to have any hope of understanding
and perhaps adhering to them.

I have heard of Qt4 (criterion 1), through Martin and
Andi's excellent book "Open Source Game Development",
but I have no access to it yet.  I do not see any need to
convert to it, since it has a compatibility mode.  But why
_do_ Qt and KDE keep changing their class interfaces?

Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I thought one of the main
ideas of object oriented programming was to separate the
interface from the implementation, keeping the interface
and functionality constant even though the implementation
might change, thus ensuring backwards compatibility - an
important "quality criterion" for program libraries.

Then again, if I convert my code to use KIO (criterion 3),
I will lose portability, another important quality IMHO.

I think my code already uses XMLGUI (criterion 12).
Is that a "*ui.rc" file?  However I have no idea if I have
used it "properly" because I have never seen any
reasonably intelligible documentation on how to use it.

Which brings me to my main point: until the KDE
environment and library improve their own quality (in
the form of documentation) and can provide a steadier,
less changeable environment in which to program, how
can application writers hope to keep up and how can they
be expected to conform to new criteria?

I feel as if I am being called upon to spend large amounts
of my spare time just to keep up with the changes, but for
no overall improvement in the external functionality of my
application.  I do not wish to become like Alice and the
Red Queen, always running hard just to stay in the same
spot.  Please count me out.

All the best, Ian W.