Needed?? The Suggestion Box??

[Nathan Olberding]

This may be slightly off topic, but I think more people would be able
to contribute patches and Show Us The Code if the application in
question was written in a higher level language than C++. I can
understand Python and, to a lesser extent, Ruby, and can easily tinker
with programs written in those languages. I can get a good idea of
what C++ code does, but I just don't have the time to 1) keep up with
CVS, 2) dive in to C++ code, studying until I understand what's going
on with it (even in a relatively simple chunk of code!), 3) edit,
compile, test, edit, compile, etc.. And even then, that only proves it
works on my machine. Then, other people who have the time to keep up
with CVS have to test my patch.

If I were unemployed, this would be a lot easier. If an app I used
were written in PyKDE, keeping up with / understanding / patching /
testing code would be several orders of magnitude easier, and I'd have
the ability to help. For that, it'd be a lot easier if PyKDE / SMOKE
bindings / etc were in the main KDE source distro (which I hear
they're going to be?).

I'm just saying, "show me the code" is a very true and realistic
attitude, but currently, most people's answer is going to be "the code
doesn't make sense to me", or "I'll do that next time I have an entire
day of free time."


On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 19:46:30 -0700, "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo at kde.org> wrote:
> On Tuesday 29 March 2005 12:59, Segedunum wrote:
> > some usability thinking within KDE, that there are some things which are
> > totally non-negotiable,
> 
> well, yes. this is true of anything. try submitting a patch that makes an 
> application crash: it won't be accepted. (at least not purposefully =)
> 
> if the suggested solution is not realitically implementable or falls outside
> 
> of the scope of KDE's forward directions, it probably won't happen. if it 
> were otherwise, chaos would ensue. 
> 
> and this isn't an issue of elitism, either. not every idea i come up with
> gets 
> implemented or considered, even if i have a patch. sometimes i have to work
> 
> pretty hard to get a concept accepted. sometimes, by the time it is
> accepted, 
> it's fallen off the radars of many people who originally wanted it due to 
> matters of attention spans. this ensures that no one person (or small group
> 
> of people) derails the entire project by simply being able to ram through
> any 
> and all ideas.
> 
> > It hints at a far greater problem within KDE as a project.
> 
> i don't think it's a problem. i think it's a challenge. KDE has come a long,
> 
> long ways and this is the next frontier for us all. we are faced with these
> 
> questions because of success and because of years of positive, useful 
> efforts.
> 
> > What is it that KDE as a whole wants?
> 
> as a whole, KDE is too big and too diverse a community to ever come to a 
> single set of wants, i think. but we can achieve specific visions within the
> 
> project and carry those visions to the project in general.
> 
> in the next 10-14 days there will be some announcements made that will be of
> 
> interest in this regard.
> 
> -- 
> Aaron J. Seigo
> GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
> 
> 

-- 
-NKO-