Re: [unrev-II] What does Augmen/NLS do?

From: Eric Armstrong (eric.armstrong@eng.sun.com)
Date: Thu Nov 09 2000 - 16:34:10 PST

  • Next message: Eric Armstrong: "Re: [unrev-II] Knowledge Space"

    Hey, Rod. Thanks for the response.
    (You, too, Nick.) I look forward to someone
    weighing in who has spent some time with
    Augment's internals. One day, maybe...

    In the meantime, I had an epiphany of sorts
    a while back. Basically, it became clear to
    me that all open source projects start from
    a kernel that exists in the form of code,
    precisely because we have no really viable
    mechanisms for carrying on a comprehensive
    design discussion.

    In fact, carrying on conversations "face to
    face" turned out to have very little value,
    for me personally, with respect to the design
    issues I have been considering. Every time the
    discussion veered close to these areas, it just
    as determinedly veered away again.

    Many and various valuable questions were raised
    at those meetings. But who remembers what they
    all were? For that matter, who could go back and
    identify all the important issues raised in this
    list? And how much time would such an effort
    require?

    I'm delighted to say that I've made some progress
    in the design. But I've also had to backtrack
    and rethink a dozen times or so. So at each stage,
    any "proposal" I would have made would have been
    so much horse hockey -- not worth the space it
    would take to deliver it. And certainly would not
    have rewarded anyone who spent their time
    investigating it, since it would have changed
    drastically within a week.

    So it's clear to me that the design process has to
    "quiesece" before the design is ready for general
    review. What I can say at the moment is that the
    design is driven 100% completely by the requirements
    set out so long ago -- and that trying to develop
    the core of a system capable of fulfilling those
    requirements is turning out to be damn hard.

    At the moment, I've been swamped by the complexity.
    Recent decisions have produced the need for multiple
    changes, all of which interact. I've felt the need
    to pull back, gathering energy and creative momentum
    for the next assault. With luck, though, I'll having
    something in reasonable shape by the end of the month.

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