[news.eclipse.technology] Re: Decision making process in Eclipse project

[Alvin Thompson <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I recently filed some issues with SWT in particular and it seems a couple of
> them were flat vetoed by one single person at IBM.
true, some people tend to get 'snippy' and will give some ideas more 
consideration based on from whom they are coming. but as most 
open-source projects are, this is a meritocracy.
> Re:
> https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=44111
first, this should have been filed as an RFE, not a bug. what the 
responder is saying that this is functioning as designed.

second, the entire concept of SWT is to directly call the underlying 
OS's procedure for accomplishing the task (if it exists). absolutely no 
other functionality is added by design. if anything, this RFE should be 
submitted with the OS, since it is the OS that does not check for valid 
styles. SWT merely sends the information to the underlying OS call. it 
does not act on and has no knowledge of the information at all. this is 
a basic SWT concept which is conveyed in much of the SWT documentation 
out there.
> https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=43007
swt is its own project and a link to its web page can be found at:

http://www.eclipse.org/platform/index.html

it  has no more or less billing than any other eclipse technology. in 
addition, you can download SWT separately on the download page.
> In addition, I did a rather significant piece of code that is important and
> submitted it and it has so far been ignored completely.
>
> https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=43990
first, you just submitted this less than two weeks ago, at a time when 
every one is working hard to push the M4 build out the door. any new 
code clearly won't be considered this close to a milestone release. now 
that M4 is out is when you should begin pushing new ideas.

second, the method:

	public boolean hooks(final int eventType) {
		synchronized (this.eventMap) {
			return (getListenerMap(eventType) == null);
		}
	}

should be changed to:

	public boolean hooks(final int eventType) {
		synchronized (this.eventMap) {
			return (getListenerMap(eventType) != null);
		}
	}

third, although this class is not serializable, who knows what bizarre 
uses it (or its derived classes) may hold in the future. i can't think 
of any reason this would become serializable, but just to be safe 
eventMap (and anything that holds listener references) should be marked 
as <transient>, and the readObject(...) method should be used to 
reinitialize it. of course, then eventMap can't be final, so it's a 
trade off...

fourth, i'm not an expert at weak references, but i don't think this 
code will work. consider the following (generic) method many people use 
to write event code. I don't know the code, so i'm sure some of it is 
incorrect, but it conveys the concept:

eventTable.hook(
    SWT.SOME_EVENT, new EventListener() {
        public void handleEvent(Event e) {
            ...
        }
    }
);

this uses an anonymous inner class to handle the event, so there are no 
references. the only strong reference would normally be is the one in 
the event map. using the WeakHashMap, there are no strong references. 
this anonymous inner class instance may be finalized and cleaned up at 
any time; sometimes the event won't be 'heard'. in fact, i think it's 
standard procedure not to have a reference for events that you know will 
never be unhooked. did you compile and test this code extensively?

> It is certainly discouraging to people that want to get involved to be merely
> ignored.
nothing happens instantly in an open-source project. just because the 
originator of an idea thinks it's a good one doesn't mean everyone will 
think it's worthwhile. enough people have to learn of and support an 
idea for it to become reality. it is up to you to 'advertise' your ideas 
and convince people of their merit. that's one of the reasons why these 
newsgroups exist.
> So is there some process behind the Eclipse project or is it just run primarily
> according to the whims of a few people at IBM? If so then I wont bother wasting
> my time making contributions and having them ignored.
this project is a very large effort involving a lot of people. many of 
these people are very talented. people are not going to drop what they 
are doing just because some new guy thinks they have a great idea. no 
offense intended with the wording there, just trying to convey the point 
as succinctly as possible. as i mentioned above, eclipse is a 
meritocracy; people start at the bottom. this is necessary with all 
open-source projects because many people become excited about a project 
but then lose interest; a lot of time would be wasted with people who 
don't follow through with their ideas. it is only those with proven 
dedication to the project that have a large say in its direction. if 
someone new has a good idea it is up to them to 'sell' it to those with 
more influence. as they continue to make valuable contributions their 
value to the community will go up.

as a friend of mine used to say, "you catch more bees with honey than 
you do with vinegar". the tone of your post probably won't help your 
case any and it probably won't get you favored treatment in the future.

-alvin