lazy thoughts

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

John Reimer wrote:
> Hello Jason,
> 
>> bearophile wrote:
>>
>>> My interest for this community and for D is decreasing quickly.
>>>
>> This may be a stupid question, but why is that?
>>
> 
> 
> I'll hazard a guess that it's because some ideas that have originated 
> from the community don't always get recognition by the D team.  Later, 
> when the D team independently engineers similar ideas, it is likely to 
> be exasperating to the community members that promoted them in the first 
> place (and worked hard to implement them too).

This is a tad imprecise. I'll wait for bearophile to tell if he feels he 
hasn't gotten the credit he believes he deserves before I answer this 
particular point. At any rate, I'll be glad if anyone who does feel not 
having been credited appropriately for contributions to D could use this 
forum to tell about it. I'm big on properly assigning credit where 
credit is due. But I also feel I can't give credit for something I know 
does not reflect the process involved, just so they're not unhappy.

> This is just the way D Language development works, and I'm hoping the 
> effect is unintentional.  Unfortunately, the "snub" effect will never 
> disappear as long as this community refuses to realize that D 
> development is not driven by the community; the community, as of now, 
> mostly operates as a highly tuned sounding board.  By now many people 
> here probably understand the chosen mode of development, but maybe some 
> don't.  It's not optimal... it's just the way it is.  Incidentally, this 
> is one of the reasons there is still a divergence between community and 
> team developed libraries (ie Tango and Phobos).
> 
> Er... I suppose I've mentioned this before... :P

Many people, when they acquire an idea, understand and internalize it to 
the point where they essentially reinvent it. Sometimes I noticed this 
happens to Walter - he hears something without understanding it, thinks 
it through, and comes back with it after having truly rediscovered it. 
I've had to ask him explicitly to grant me credit in a few instances, 
one of I remember right now being the scope statements. There are a few 
others that I even know it's useless to ask credit for... such as 
typelists which got mis-baptized as tuples, foam at my mouth 
notwithstanding :o). Therefore, I'm sure many people who must also be 
feeling Walter (or Bartosz or myself) should have credited properly, but 
weren't friends enough with him/them/us to casually ask for it. This can 
only be frustrating, so by all means do tell about it.

What I'm trying to say is that every person has this and that little 
quirk, and that Walter is one of the most honest and ethical persons I 
have ever met. So if there's any odd snubbing effect or whatnot, that is 
not intentional and could be easily corrected.


Andrei