“I'm basically giving myself a permanent vacation from being BDFL”

Post by hangonhn » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 10:14 PM UTC

habosa wrote: post #454

newen wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the majority of cases, they are getting paid to code it (by some company, organization, etc). And they benefit from the popularity of the the software. So I don't think I need to see myself as a charity case or adopt a please please please attitude with them.

I maintain a number of open source projects for Google. So yes I am paid to do it and yes the company benefits from it. That said, it doesn't mean that developers who use it can take an entitled stance and expect to get anywhere. I get so many bug reports like "This sux and you have to fix it!!!!" and even when I wake up on the right side of the bed, there's nothing I can do with those. A calm discussion of what the…

Post by Groxx » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 10:16 PM UTC

rodorgas wrote: post #460

TheMagicHorsey wrote: post #427

I don't know if it's just me, but if you read the forums and bug reports related to open source projects, it feels like programmers today are a really entitled lot. The tone that people take when filing bug reports for what is basically free software is reprehensible. People are doing work for FREE to benefit you, and you take a tone with them like you are a prince and they are your royal goblet holders? Who taught t…

It's the same behaviour of ordinary users, in general. A developer who uses your library is, basically, a user. They see your work as an obligation, not as a gift you are giving to everyone.

Post by dredmorbius » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 10:19 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #333

jacquesm wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some root cause analysis would be nice. Because whatever went wrong that caused GvR to step down isn't solved and the future structure whatever form it will take will most likely not be quite as resilient against this as GvR was. Also, an apology for the way this turned out would be seemly.

Whatever apology GvR is owed, it's none of my business. The post-BDFL continuity plan is super relevant to me, but I can say with some confidence that GvR does not need me as a witness to whatever psychological remediation he may or may not need for the assignment expression debacle. It's not my place to psychoanalyze him, and he rather clearly didn't ask me to. So again: why, as a professional who interacts with the…

Post by shakna » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 10:25 PM UTC

TooBrokeToBeg wrote: post #158

Waterluvian wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that having strong opinions on how others should be developing software is how communities become toxic like this. "Shooting yourself in the foot is your fault for not using a linter that detects accidental misuse of assignment!"

I'm still puzzled to why would a compiler allow assignment in an explicit conditional (outside of loop syntax). It's like a baked-in blindspot that most people just want to ignore for some reason. Some languages actually guard against this well enough (eg Kotlin) and say "don't". Even with guards in place, it's not all that complicated to work around in the edge cases where you might want to do it.

    if(malloc(10000 * sizeof foo) == NULL) {
      // Error processing
    } // No need for an else branch here.

Post by llukas » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 10:26 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #258

chimeracoder wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Python 3 breakage and async turned out to be prescient, fantastic decisions. The jury is still out on the Python 3 decision, to be honest. Heck, Python 2 is still officially supported until 2020. Python 3 adoption is increasing, but the instability and breakage that it introduced caused a lot of knock-on effects throughout the Python community that held it back and hindered its adoption and mindshare. It'll take a…

Well, many embedded developers will never move beyond C89 unless forced to do so. Meanwhile C22 work is ongoing.