[fpc-devel] Alternative parsers

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Wed, 20 Oct 2010, Hans-Peter Diettrich wrote:

> Michael Van Canneyt schrieb:
>
>> Sorry, I was talking about classes. I don't use objects from TP;
>> I consider them deprecated.
>
> I use Object in the semantic stuff, just to avoid try-finally blocks. As long 
> as Class objects must reside on the heap, Object still has advantages.

I'm sure it has.

>
>> Besides my personal opinion, the compiler already uses classes for some 
>> other things, and it's not very desirable to mix the two concepts.
>> 
>>>> It sounds like you give us little credit.
>>> Sorry for that and thanks you for your work.
>>> But, by the same token, don't you think that you also give a little credit 
>>> to
>>> Hans' work? Maybe his reasons are also good?
>> 
>> As I explained in another mail, I think he tries too much too soon.
>
> I only tried to contribute the best of my education and knowledge, resulting 
> from decades of code analysis and redesign. I admit that my coding style, 
> that evolved in that time, is partially incompatible with certain "standards" 
> - but only for good reasons.

Just as Florian has good reasons for his coding style. 
Since he is senior to you (in the FPC community), his style goes.

His style is also not my style, I have totally different style, but on the
rare occasions that I do something in the compiler, I try to use his style,
simply because he does the bulk of the work in the compiler.

>> First do some small and desired things, to build up credibility. Check the 
>> bugtracker for things to do. You'll be invited on the core team by itself 
>> if you do a good job. Then take on the big tasks.
>
> That's a very dangerous proposition. I've encountered several projects where 
> the maintainers could not fix certain bugs, and left these to others. When 
> such a fix required restructuring of the code, it typically is rejected, 
> because the maintainers don't understand it. A plenty of such bugs will 
> typically disappear as a sideeffect of a general refactoring.

It's not about bug fixing "an sich". It's about human attitude:
Trust must be earned.

You can say that you have years of education, knowledge and whatnot,
but we don't know that. You must prove this first. Just like all the 
others had to do, just like I had to do.

Like I said in another mail: 
One doesn't let a stranger in and let him redecorate ones house to his taste.

You and the FPC team got off on a wrong footing. I regret this - god knows
that we need manpower - but it has happened.

Michael.