[fpc-pascal] OT a bit - Planet Object Pascal

[ik]

On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 1:58 PM, Florian Klämpfl <florian at freepascal.org>wrote:

> Am 17.02.2013 10:53, schrieb ik:
> >
> > Pascal is only one programming language I use, and only for hobby, not
> > for make a living,
>
> The same applies here.
>
> > and that's partly because of you.
>
> Well and partly you :) I'am pretty sure that some of the developers
> would blog about their work if somebody pays them for blogging. But you
> don't do so (obviously I understand this), they have to earn their
> living by other means.
>

I'm a freelancer for the past 6 years, so please pay me on all of the
amount
of time I spent talking, lecturing and evangelist FPC and Lazarus on my own
expense.

You never see me ask for it, because I do it because I want to see Pascal
in the industry.
I do it because I have need to see it used, to make programming fun again,
or for any
other reason.


>
> > You prefer to create new features, but keep it to yourself, and hoping
> > that someone will catch-up.
>
> You miss the point. My time for fpc is limited and fixed. If I write
> blog entries instead of coding, fpc will evolve slower. If I spent 25%
> of all of my fpc time on blogging instead of improving fpc, maybe pascal
> would be dead now because no advanced OSS compiler is available and it
> would be only my private pet compiler I use to compile my chess programs
> and the controll software for our model railway.
>

When I know why Florian (and others) started FPC/K, why do they implement
feature X, and not feature Y, when I understand the story of the core
developers,
It's easier to relate to things.

I can talk about a feature that you or anyone else added or removed, but I
can't
bring the whole story of it.

Why is it that FPC/K now exists for 20 years as an open source project, and
you
can't earn money for developing it, while Linus that have an OS that exists
for 21
years can ?

This type of things are important more then you think.

But not only this, take a look at the freepascal.org web site: animated gif
(from the 90's),
the whole way of thinking there is not designer oriented - It does not
invite new people
to the project, does not provide a proper place to be etc...

It's not easy to find documentation for things, some are at the wiki, some
at the /doc-html/ path
and many does not exists.

So you are working on all this cool features and is the fastest compiler in
the world, and you can
do everything you wanted with pascal and many things you don't (and it's
not a c++ like
technology garbage can). But no new blood see it, use it or can be
attracted to it, so what's
the point ? unless it's pure hobby and all of this does not matter ...


>
> > It does not work like this, specially with Pascal.
>
> How do you know so? Developers quickly realize if a tool is no evolving
> and all advertisement is only buzz and will quickly use other tools.
>

Developers, doctors, and all the people who have a profession does not
choose a tool that
they know nothing about, and if they have too much choice, they usually
choose the one that
everyone(tm) choose, not because it is good for them, but because everyone
is using it.

It was proven so many times over and over again, you can find on the web
people such as
Dan Ariely have a lot of talks and books about it, if you have time for
such things ...
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