Re: Open-Source and programming style

[dewarr@my-dejanews.com]

In article <72pfum$h9c$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
  dennison@telepath.com wrote:
> In article
<364d0243.39960214@SantaClara01.news.InterNex.Net>,
>   tmoran@bix.com (Tom Moran) wrote:
> > One advantage cited for Open Source Software is that it
can be
> > debugged in parallel by many people.  That would seem
to fit the style
> > of 'code anything, then debug until it works' better
than the 'design
> > it so it works in the first place' style, which seems
less amenable to
> > parallelism.  Comments?
>
> I notice a lot of people are attacking this statement on
the basis that it
> implies no (or ad-hoc) design. However, I don't think
that is what is being
> asked. If what you are getting at is the
"worse-is-better" design approach
> vs. the "the Right Thing" approach, I'd have to agree.
After all, you can't
> get the benefits of parrallel debugging until you
actually produce something
> nominaly useful in the first place. To quote shamelessly
from Richard
> Gabriel's The Rise of "Worse is Better":
>
>    The lesson to be learned from this is that it is often
undesirable
>    to go for the right thing first. It is better to get
half of the
>    right thing available so that it spreads like a virus.
Once people
>    are hooked on it, take the time to improve it to 90%
of the right
>    thing.



I think that notion is entirely unsuportable, but in any
case it is not how typical GPL'ed software is in fact
developed. The distinction between the so called (very
inept analogy in my view) bazarre and cathedral models
is largely artificial.

The fact of the matter is that most large GPL'ed projects,
including Linux, GCC, EGCS, GDB, GNAT is that they are
very carefully controlled. For example, in the case of
EGCS, the great majority of modifications are made by
Cygnus, and suggestions for changes outside Cygnus are
vetted quite carefully.

Similarly, the mainstream versions of Linux, such as those
from Redhat, are carefully controlled in terms of what goes
into releases.

Sure there are hobbyists and enthusiasts making suggestions
and hacking their own versions, but the viewpoint that
people have of uncontrolled development is in fact quite
bogus in all these cases.

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