On Tue, 5 Oct 2021 at 07:26, Peter Boy <pboy(a)uni-bremen.de> wrote:
> Am 04.10.2021 um 15:29 schrieb Mikolaj Izdebski <mizdebsk(a)redhat.com>:
>
> On Mon, Oct 4, 2021 at 2:08 PM Peter Boy <pboy(a)uni-bremen.de> wrote:
>> However, we lack concepts on how to proceed after removing java-maint-sig. What
consequences do we draw from the analyses?
>
> … If you want
> to improve docs, just do it. And so on. ...
> ... or to plan editing the wiki. Whoever wants to clean up some wiki
> pages can simply do so, without asking.
It’s not as easy as you think of. That way you will end with the docs as Stephen Smoogen
described 4 posts back, just chaos and misinformation. You need collaboration and
agreement (shared plan) from participants in all affected areas - including you as the
(main) developer of a core package (not writing text, but e.g check the concept, check
technical correctness and completeness). It simply doesn’t work the way you are proposing.
You also need people who are good at documentation which frankly many
developers are not. Be it a history of 'the only true documentation is
the code' to 'look its simple why didn't you just <do this one thing
no one would think of and impossible to document without knowing why
it was chosen or used>. It's the most obvious choice?'
It isn't that the developer is trying to be obtuse, I think it is how
the brain works for a lot of people. My autism makes it very hard for
me to communicate about code. I can think it, see it, dream it, but
once I get into 'word' mode I can't access it easily. And vice versa,
when I am in code mode, I am almost non-verbal and my emails get very
short and succinct (at least to me..).. Switch me over to word mode
and it takes me hours to be productive in code again. [I have to set
my emails and meetings in a block without working in much code.] My
social skills are also myopic.. I can work with people when I am in
word mode but I can not if I am in code mode beyond 'share code, get
reviewed, fix bugs, point out problems'.
It takes a lot of work to document what I do, and when I am under
water with too many tasks/packages it can be a lot easier to just make
it work versus doing that. I would like to say 'this is just me' but
when I have explained my problem to a lot of other developers there
are the nods of 'yep that is what it's like'. Getting a truly working
SIG together is a lot of emotional work that a lot of people don't
have the energy to deal with while also doing whatever they are
currently doing.
Getting documentation is a full time job usually with someone who has
to have patience and persistence to get the information they need out
of the developers in code mode and also get the words down into a way
that someone who isn't a developer in code mode can read.
--
Stephen J Smoogen.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Flame wars in
sci.astro.orion. I have seen SPAM filters overload because of Godwin's
Law. All those moments will be lost in time... like posts on a BBS...
time to shutdown -h now.