[squeak-dev] Re: [Pharo-project] Just a little point

Yanni Chiu yanni at rogers.com
Thu Jul 9 15:23:54 UTC 2009


Keith Hodges wrote:
> Several things that wind me up, one is wasted effort, and another is
> duplicated effort, and the third is making plans to duplicate effort on
> purpose.

But it's not wasted/duplicated effort. Making code cross-dialect is not 
free - it's extra work that's being deferred. The deferred work can be 
until: later (after the new creation has solidified), or never (because 
the creation was not useful).

It can also be deferred for someone else to do. For example, newcomers 
wanting to get a foothold could benefit from doing a "porting" task. 
This ecosystem would free up inventors to invent new stuff, and provide 
useful learning experiences for newcomers - to everyone's benefit.

Thinking about cross-dialect issues can stifle invention. I'd rather see 
the invention happen. Maybe there is some wasted effort in the process, 
but that concern would be mitigated if the new invention brought more 
people to the community.

-- 
Yanni




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