Re: Current state of Apache Commons Math and Geometry

On Fri, Feb 20, 2026 at 3:58 AM Gilles Sadowski <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Le jeu. 19 févr. 2026 à 14:57, Johann Sorel via dev

> I agree: Collaboration on reusable code is a better way.


I agree too. This has two prerequisites:

1. Reusable code
2. Collaboration

Neither of those is easy to satisfy nor should either be assumed.
Reusable code is probably the easier one to guarantee. You just need
to find at least three existing projects that already have code doing
the thing you're proposing to write a library for. You have one. There
could be others.

 Collaboration is much tougher. You need active developers who are
willing to contribute over the lifetime of the project. Even if you
have them today, you could lose them tomorrow. Code that you
contribute to a different project instead of your own will now be
blocked on the availability of reviewers and might not be released for
years, if ever. This is where Apache Xerces is currently stuck, for
example.

Genuinely reusable code is helpful, but splitting your own work into
separate parts in separate projects owned by different teams, people,
and organizations is a very risky strategy. The presumption should be
not to do this. Good evidence of benefit is needed before I would
attempt that.

-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold
[email protected]