You're right and make a very good point. But that doesn't change the fact that there are bugs from 2009 which barely have comments or even a reasonable explanation.
Me being a pretty average typer (~95 WPM) I could type 2-3 paragraphs detailing why I am against fixing anything, in no more than 6-8 minutes.
So for 7 years such bugs to never even get a proper explanation is showing the maintainers as douchebags, not victims.
(Since people sometimes misunderstand this, I'll clarify that it isn't foul language in the sense of profanity that's the issue here. It's treating each other with respect.)
Hi, I am a Clojure committer and I just closed http://dev.clojure.org/jira/browse/CLJ-1013. Even though this issue is not a bug, explaining why is not entirely trivial. I have already spent 15 minutes on it, and have not yet found the best place to update the docs so that developers wanting to consume Clojure from Java find the information they need.
If you have a chance, could you please take care of updating the docs? Thanks in advance! Let's make Clojure great together.
Hey, I don't actually know Clojure beyond basics and several intros showing the overall framework of the language, its paradigms and generic philosophy (I don't count that as knowing a language).
I'd love to help but as it is, the original article convinced me that I shouldn't. As a commercial project maintainer myself I am all too well familiar with how many things one can miss if he doesn't write everything down and constantly manage information -- that's why I have a huge private Trello board.
I am not gonna scorn fellow extremely busy devs. But I will point out that as language maintainers your responsibility is bigger than mine. You should do your best.
If I ever decide to become an active Clojure user I definitely won't be only criticizing. I'll do my best to help!
It's my opinion that I don't have to be a Clojure expert with 5 years of experience in order to be able to recognize patterns in the language implementation and the way the ecosystem is governed, and eventually deduct I wouldn't want to associate with them for the time being.
You'd be maybe be right, if that was the only thing that the maintainers were doing. Speaking as a maintainer of several projects myself, it's all too easy for some issues to slip through the cracks.
I agree. I am a maintainer myself of a closed-source & commercial project. It's indeed extremely easy to miss out on a crucial piece of info.
I am not gonna teach anyone how to organize information. For the time being I am writing absolutely everything that comes to my mind (or is raised by customers and teammates) in a private Trello board. Even if I close everything in it 3 years from now, I would have some peace of mind knowing that I tried my damnest to never miss anything. And that's it's written down somewhere and that I am aware that it's waiting my input or work.
I was somewhat offensive simply because bugs 7 years old marked as "wontfix" without a tangible explanation is absolutely not OK for language maintaners. The jobs of the senior devs are usually very hairy because we're good in fixing messes and repairing things. I stand behind my opinion that you have to go back and fix your past mistakes every once in a while. You can't pretend you're 18-20 years old and only sprint ahead and be blinded by the glamour of the new and shiny features. Stuff periodically needs repairing, it's how it is.
Well at least I am not dowvnoted for bad language here. :D
Seriously though, I don't understand why is this being downvoted on the grounds of a subjective opinion. I stand behind my philosophy and I am returning periodically to fix things I've done in my past, both in my profession and real life.
I heard on the Cognicast about them working on clojure.spec over the weekend. Elsewhere, Alex Miller offhandedly mentioned his sleep deprivation: answering questions and writing accessible documentation.
In any prolific, underfunded work, there's always things to pick at.
Please edit out the "douchebags" comment. If not for ethical reasons, then for the fact that some of them post on HN, read such words, and probably be momentarily demotivated/distracted. Not to mention HN's guidelines on civility: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
It's sadly too late now. I admit of being perplexed and somewhat angry after reading the original article and then making my own quick research on it. And I was temporarily a part of the problem I'd call "others use worse language so why should I care". That was obviously a mistake.
My apologies. It definitely won't ever happen again.
Me being a pretty average typer (~95 WPM) I could type 2-3 paragraphs detailing why I am against fixing anything, in no more than 6-8 minutes.
So for 7 years such bugs to never even get a proper explanation is showing the maintainers as douchebags, not victims.