Re: [9fans] silly slider tool for rio

[Dan Cross <cross@math.psu.edu>]

In article <20010308094321.S17986@cackle.proxima.alt.za> you write:
>Eric Raymond's essay "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" suggests that
>modern software development is organic rather than architectural.
>I think there's truth (Linux) in the suggestion, but my personal
>view is that I prefer few (and far between) cathedrals to flea
>markets [...]

Hmmm....  The more I think about it, the less I believe Eric Raymond.
Linux really is built architecturally; those components where the
unwashed masses contribute (device drivers, utilities) are more like
the bricks in the cathedral, if you will....  Even medieval cathedrals
had masses of unwashed laborors to put everything together (often in
unsanitary and unsafe conditions, but I digress....) once it had been
defined by the architects.  I guess the idea with Linux is that the
potential is there for anyone to contribute to major components of the
system, but that's probably true of any ``Open Source'' project, and
doesn't mean that the architecture isn't tightly controlled.

That said, I have a hard time accepting the ``bazaar'' idea....  It's
meant to work if you have lots of highly skilled individuals working on
a project.  Unfortunately, most projects are staffed almost entirely by
mediocre individuals, and most if not all projects I've seen run that
way produce buggy, bloated, and unreadable code.

It's a shame that an entire generation of programmers is growing up
learning from such horrible models of style.....  Call it the
``slashdot effect.''

	- Dan C.