Forum OpenACS Improvement Proposals (TIPs): Re: TIP #37 (Rejected): Queries in XQL file conventions

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Posted by Don Baccus on
You know, in my mind the important thing about this TIP isn't the quibble over .xql files.  It's the fact that hopefully we're establishing the principle that we won't abandon coding standards without going through formal process.

Not all coding standards are as quibbly as perhaps the "use .xql files" standard is.

But we had a similar experience with .LRN, where OpenForce delivered a product that in many places is full of Tcl code dropped helter-skelter into .adp files.  They did so without bothering to discuss the decision with the community, though they knew that the prohibition against doing so was a coding standard for not only OpenACS but aD's ACS 4.x project as well.

Why did they do it?  Because it saved them time when writing certain especially tricky pages (at least they claimed it did).

Now I don't think you'll find a single OCT member who will endorse that practice, but due to the informality of the community and the fact that .LRN was a standalone effort by OF/Sloan in those days we didn't realize they were doing this until the code was released.

And many of us went "YECH!" when we saw what they'd done.

So I'm hoping we all at least see the value of deciding such things at the TIP level, even if we disagree over the rejection of this particular one ...

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Posted by Lars Pind on
I didn't mean to not be gracious about it. I'm obviously going to respect the decision of the OCT.

I did feel like some of the arguments given for rejection above misrepresented reality, so I saw a need to clarify, in case anyone wanted to think more about this going forward. If that came off as being ungracious, I apologize.

For the record, I didn't mean to unilaterally abandon anything. I wasn't aware that it was a decided coding standard until you brought my attention to it. Where is this documented again?

Regardless, now the TIP has been decided on. Let's put this to rest.

/Lars