Hi Bob, Dan & company.

Bob Arning (arning at charm.net) wrote:

"That's essentially what I wanted to know. I'm not overly concerned about
when feedback or immediate inclusion in the base image. What I should have
asked and you have answered is whether you lose things and it sounds
relatively unlikely. 

> As a parallel reverse path to the advocacy idea, perhaps it might be
> useful to take the ideas that don't (quite) pass muster and return them to
> the originator (or other helpful folks or the list) with a few suggestions
> and see if someone will fix it up." 
> 
/* on the soapbox...    ;-)
Speaking for all of those who are still bootstrapping themselves into Squeak
sentience,  I think that the idea of regular code / design reviews by other
Squeakers would be a benefit to everyone.  We all have, at our disposal, a
group of really brilliant designers and coders, many of whom have a decade
or more experience with Smalltalk.  It might really help out the newer, and
the more adventurous, Squeakers, if there was a "go to" group, person, or
persons where we could solicit advice, opinions and suggestions on the
Squeak projects we undertake.  A simple list of available "feature" experts
might be a good start.

My employer has recently (last year or so) adopted a mandatory code review
process, prior to general releases.  This practice has dramatically improved
the stability of our releases and has reduced our general concerns regarding
the potential risk involved in new features.  Even the very best developer
occasionally forgets something!
off the soapbox... */

I'd like to get back to Bob's questions about Squeak Central releasing
things.  I really don't have a problem with delaying the releasing of new
features [insert Dan's good points].  It is a good idea to "beat on" new
code in general, before giving it to newbies.  However, I'd personally
appreciate a more accelerated release of bug fixes (especially for bugs like
the one I created & then fixed recently... doh!).  I think some of the more
serious fixes deserve priority, because I'm not sure that newbies will know
what to do when we post them to this mailing list.  I remember struggling a
bit at first, because I didn't know how to file in new code.  However, the
"update from server" feature, is great!  It really should have a place of
honor on the default image.  Perhaps a small morphic world with an "update
from server" button could be included somewhere on the base image.

Hope I didn't offend anyone.  I really enjoy and appreciate the opportunity
that Squeak and you good folks freely offer us all!

---==> Chris