Re: Here is my Centipede scepticism

> Mats,
> 
> Your argument appears to be along the lines of "code is easy, so who needs
> re-use/sharing, it gets in the way". As such,  I hope you write in simple
> assembler. Or, perhaps you write in Java but you avoid those pesky JDK
> classes. How dare they force you to use java.lang.String instead of writing
> you own each time, that is so constraining! ;-)

Well, no. I am a big fan of reuse, since about a
decade back, but reuse comes with a cost. There
are a fair amount of cost-benefit mathematical
models for reuse, where you take in things like
the extra cost spent designing something that is
reusable, the extra cost spent to understand how
something can be reused, and such. There is
definitely cases where reuse works, but to me
the cents doesn't seem to work, since they aren't
flexible enough. AND, if you make them flexible
enough, then you've made them so complex to use
that raw ant is better. More on that below.

> Basically, IMHO, there is a time and a place for re-use/sharing. You can
> create your own javadoc target as a cent (scriptlet) and share it amongst N
> of your own projects (download from a local repository), you don't have to
> share with Nick. You can make these scriptlets configurable (via properties
> w/ defaults).

NO!! By then you've lost it all! If you have to
configure the javadoc cent to do what you want,
then it is already more complex than the original
javadoc ant task.

This is at the core of my original cent scepticism:
You are trying to solve something that isn't a
problem! My JavaDoc ant task, which I sent off in
a previous email, isn't complex. It is pretty
straighforward, but contains so many details that
are special for me, that you can't make a cent out
of it.

I believe my JUnit ant task is the same. Simple, but
special for me.

> Further, you can use the shared/re-use (but configurable)
> scriptlets/targets that centipede provides (as I do, I don't care about
> links).

OK, that is true. Maybe I'm the only one. I think
they are one of the best fatures of JavaDoc.

Besides, what about the <doctitle>, <header> and
<bottom> elements? You don't care about them too?

> It is Friday afternoon, and I am feeling flippant. Please excuse me if I was
> overly so...

No, don't worry. I'm not sure why I spend this
time either, since I don't have the need for
Centipede right now, and you'll do just fine
without my bothering comments anyway... :-)

Mats




-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by:  Etnus, makers of TotalView, The best
thread debugger on the planet. Designed with thread debugging features
you've never dreamed of, try TotalView 6 free at www.etnus.com.