what Hans is right about [LWN.net]

what Hans is right about

Posted Jul 29, 2006 23:05 UTC (Sat) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313)
In reply to: what Hans is right about by pimlott
Parent article: Quote of the week

if you are willing to invest the time to readk the kernel list (and yes, it does take quite a bit of time) you will find that the kernel developers are not at all opposed to people designing things for the long-term, it's just that they are not willing to pay attention to people who say 'stop what you're doing and wait for someone to design this'

there are quite a number of very experianced people who pop up on the kernel list once in a while to weigh in on something. when they do they are listened to and things are useually adjusted to accomodate them.

the situation is something like this

code that works trumps a design that's not implemented
code that is designed well will trump code that's not
simple code trumps complex code (unless the complex code has an advantage that can be pointed at)

and in all cases evolutionary changes win over rip-out-and-replace (although there are some kernel developers who are famous for long patch series that incrementaly replace core functionality, the key is that each stop stands alone)

none of this sits especially well with a lot of the 'specify, design, then code' folks. however if they keep working rather then getting discouraged the results of their work does stand a good chance of being accepted

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