Hi all (and especially Ned),
I am working on a second release of my reverse engineering toolset, BabySRE.
One problem is that I am using Connectors version 1.9. SRE doesn't work with the new version, 2.0. I have three alternatives: 1) Study Connectors 2.0 and adapt BabySRE to it. 2) Write a new program that satisfies my modest diagramming needs 3) Rename/modify the Connectors 1.9 classes so that they can coexist with Connectors 2.0, strip out what I don't need, modify the rest as required, and package the result together with BabySRE.
I don't want to do 1) because I only need a small part of Connectors and because I will have to keep adpting to a moving target. I don't like to do 2) because it seems a waste of time. I prefer 3) because it gives an independent SRE package with a minimum of hassle for its users, with a single maintainer (me), and with a minimum of work.
The question is: Is it ethical/unethical in the Squeak community to copy/modify somebody else's classes (with class comments spelling out that I have done so, of course)???
Please guide me --Trygve
On Friday 31 December 2004 7:30 am, Trygve Reenskaug wrote:
One problem is that I am using Connectors version 1.9. SRE doesn't work with the new version, 2.0. I have three alternatives:
- Study Connectors 2.0 and adapt BabySRE to it.
- Write a new program that satisfies my modest diagramming needs
- Rename/modify the Connectors 1.9 classes so that they can coexist with
Connectors 2.0, strip out what I don't need, modify the rest as required, and package the result together with BabySRE.
I don't want to do 1) because I only need a small part of Connectors and because I will have to keep adpting to a moving target.
The Connectors API itself hasn't changed substantially since 1.9 unless you're changing deep event behavior. I wouldn't consider it much of a "moving target" at this point. I understood that you needed 1.9 because of Jacaranda; I recently sent Hernan some changes to his stuff that would help him move Jacaranda to Connectors 2. So if it helps, that may be a choice. However, the (current) lack of dashed lines in Connectors 2 may be a problem.
I prefer 3) because it gives an independent SRE package with a minimum of hassle for its users, with a single maintainer (me), and with a minimum of work.
That's fine, as long as the classes don't interfere with Connectors 2. Specifically, some of the internal classes (NCLineConstraintMorph, especially) have changed behavior enough to cause problems.
The question is: Is it ethical/unethical in the Squeak community to copy/modify somebody else's classes (with class comments spelling out that I have done so, of course)???
Not at all. I for one would be glad that someone would be finding my work useful. The ability to work based on other people's source code is one of the most powerful parts of the open source world.
Good luck! I'm looking forward to your new version.
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