Re: [Fresco-devel] Explanation of relation between bugs/tasks? (in issues.f.o)

On Thu, Sep 19, 2002 at 10:27:40AM -0400, Stefan Seefeld wrote:
> Ben Bucksch wrote:
> > I'd give Task and Bug a common base type. Both track work related to a 
> >certain software.
> >
> >Compare the properties at the top and bottom of the schema 
> ><http://issues.fresco.org//reports/schema.html>. Task and Bug share a 
> >lot of properties and relations; in fact, many differences are arguable 
> >(Why no Platform for tasks? Why "Resolution" in one case and "Result" in 
> >another?).
> 
> Very good point ! You argue that both will have an outcome, so that 
> should be reflected in a common base type with an 'outcome' attribute,
> which corresponds to 'Resolution' for bugs and 'Result' for tasks.
> 
> If ever that justifies anything, it is a common *implementation*, but 
> not a common *interface*. Interfaces are all about semantics, and it is
> precisely the interpretation of what 'outcome' actually means that makes
> the difference here. The same applies to all the other attributes, too.

I disagree -- there are many places where you just want to think about
"issues", and don't care about the finer-grained task/bug distinction.
It's perfectly reasonable to ask questions like "What unresolved
issues do I have asssigned to me?", "How many Prague-related issues
has Stefan closed this month?", etc., where you treat both tasks and
bugs the same at some more abstract level.  That's the semantics of a
shared base type.  And there are a lot of attributes in common; the
current search screens for bugs and tasks are identical.  This is a
bug (bug41, in fact ;-)), because many fields that should be
searchable on aren't, but it does illustrate the degree of
commonality.

Still, though, it's pretty irrelevant -- treating them more alike at
the interface level might have some nice effects, but as a practical
matter, we can live without it if necessary.

-- Nathaniel

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