Re: stepping down as project manager

[David Kastrup]

Janek Warchoł <address@hidden> writes:

> On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 4:43 PM, David Kastrup <address@hidden> wrote:
>>Janek wrote:
>
>>> Unfortunately, David seems to be the only active developer that
>>> understands some parser subtleties - in other words, only he fully
>>> knows the whys.
>>
>> Well, there is nothing magic about that as nobody else ever looks at the
>> parser.
>
> I understand that you're frustrated, but please note that i'm trying
> to read and review your syntax patches.

I am not frustrated.  I am just a central collection point for
everybody's frustration, and blaming me for everything that is hard is
just silly.

Take a look at the recent proposal of \temporary.  This basically goes
like "Here is a solution for a problem I encounter sometimes and that is
also a problem in our codebase" -- "Oh no, not another solution.  How
are we supposed to keep track?  Let's keep the problem instead.  Nobody
else noticed it so far anyhow, let's just ignore your demonstration of
it."

Now of course, this is how professional programmers would work.  And to
boot, if their company is large enough, they have a support department
with people skilled and trained to be the punching ball taking on
general customer frustration and passing the few bits of actually useful
feedback on, assuming they even recognize it.  When in doubt, they block
both information and frustration and are still worth their pay in the
combination of customer satisfaction and developer job satisfaction.

> Unfortunately i don't have time to study them until i understand how
> they work - I wish i could, but i don't have enough time now.

There is not much point without at least reading the Bison manual
regarding actual parser work.

But usually I describe at least the consequences.  That's not enough for
a useful review, but it may be enough for "how hard would it be to do
xxx instead?" questions.

-- 
David Kastrup