Re: [PHP4BETA] Re: [PHP-DEV] Re: [PHP4BETA] PHP 4.0.0 Release packaged

At 4:20 PM -0200 2000-05-21, Manuel Lemos wrote:
>Hello Egon,
>
>On 21-May-00 05:38:24, you wrote:
>
>>>  - Final releases are done and many new features are not documented.  What
>>>  is the point of announcing cool features like Shockwave Flash support but
>>>  users can not find any documentation to use it? This makes the developers
>>>  look like hackers or just amateurs.
>
>>Which new user needs Shockwave Flash support? The same goes with COM
>>support. It was never documented in the manual. COM was present since the
>>beginng of PHP 3. Users who needs COM support reads the source code.
>
>That was an unfortunate comparision.  I know what is COM but most people
>don't.  As for Shockwave Flash, even designers know what it is.
>
>Dynamic generation for Shockwave Flash output, like there is for GIF and
>PDF, will certainly be a killing feature that many PHP enthusiasts will
>use in PHP vs.  the world arguments.  That is precisely the problem.
>Picture this situation some time soon in a IT department next to you:
>
>Joe Webby, a paid Web developer rushes into his boss office:
>
>- Hey boss, look, PHP 4 final is out and guess what: it is capable of
>   generating Shockwave Flash output dynamically!
>
>- Really?  I don't believe that.  It's too good to be true for some free
>   Web programming language. Show it to me, I want to see some examples.
>
>- Hold on, I am going to find a sample page to show you.


At this point, I think we say that Joe Webby has made a fool of himself,
but not because of PHP.  Joe Webby has failed to do his research before
rushing into the boss's office.  Hasn't Joe Webby given even a little
bit of thought into anticipating the questions that the boss will ask,
and to coming up with answers to those questions?

You're right that writing documentation is a problem, because most
programmers would rather be programming than writing.  However, I
doubt if your suggestion that PHP developers be "obligated" (your word)
to supply documentation for functions is going to fly.  I'm not sure
that's always such a bad thing, at least if other people come along
to take up the slack.

Programmers aren't always the best writers, so it's not always the
case that the programmers make the best documenters.  If someone who
can write comes along and contributes to the documentation, you'll
have *better* documentation in many cases than if it's written by
someone who really doesn't want to be writing documentation.


>
>Joe Webby gets back to his desk trying to find some cool examples.  An half
>an hour after he returns to the boss office.
>
>- So, can I see some Flash pages dynamically generated by PHP?
>
>- Humm...  I haven't found anything yet, but I posted a message to the
>   mailing list and I am awaiting for an answer.  PHP 4 was just released,
>   people is still discovering what's new.
>
>- Ok, but what about some documentation to show how it works?
>
>- Documentation?  Humm...  I haven't found it in the PHP 4 manual, but you
>   can always browse the Flash extension C code to figure it out.
>
>- What??!?!  Are you crazy?  Do you think we are going to waste our
>   precious time digging someone else's C code to figure how some
>   undocumented free software is supposed to be used?  You free software
>   maniacs are out of your mind if you think we will do that.
>
>   That's something for college students do because they have plenty of time
>   waste while their parents are paying for their studies.  But we don't
>   have time for that.  We have work here to do, and soon.
>
>   So get back coding in ASP and don't you ever get back here with any more
>   undocumented free software crap!  There is certainly some ASP component
>   that do that already.  It costs money but it is certainly documented and
>   have personalized support.
>
>It may be amusing but this is realistically sad.  It may have not happened
>to you, but it is happening all the time with many PHP enthusiasts.  People
>burn themselves and the chances of seeing PHP adopted because releases lack
>of professionalism.


I maintain that if anyone actually goes through such a scenario, they
deserve what they get for going into the boss's office without doing
their research.


-- 
Paul DuBois, [email protected]