- From: Leif Halvard Silli <lhs@malform.no>
- Date: Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:46:27 +0200
- To: Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com>
- CC: Laura Carlson <laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com>, "Dailey, David P." <david.dailey@sru.edu>, Larry Masinter <masinter@adobe.com>, Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch>, HTML WG <public-html@w3.org>
Maciej Stachowiak On 09-06-01 00.43: > On May 31, 2009, at 1:11 PM, Laura Carlson wrote: >> That is one of the problems with the document. Ambiguous preferences >> masquerade as principles. >> >> The "Do not Reinvent the Wheel" principle in Maciej and Anne’s >> editor's draft currently says, “If there is already a widely used and >> implemented technology covering particular use cases, consider >> specifying that technology in preference to inventing something new >> for the same purpose. Sometimes, though, new use cases may call for a >> new approach instead of more extensions on an old approach.” >> >> Such language in principles nullifies. It is meaningless. It is not >> measurable. Does the principle ban reinventing the wheel or not? If >> yes, say so and leave it at that; if no, forget the rule. >> >> Principles that use wishy-washy rhetoric are not principles at all. >> They are judgment calls, completely subjective to the personal opinion >> of the person invoking the principle or authoring the spec. > > I guess we disagree on the basics of proper principles for language design. > > If I understand your position correctly, you're saying any rule that > can't be stated and obeyed in 100% absolute terms is not worth writing > down. Ahem ... Principles are principles. Stating clear and unambigous principles is one thing. Finding, that in reality, you have to break a principle or two, is another thing. > I disagree. Who are you arguing with - a strawman? > Software engineering design is a world of tradeoffs. Often > design problems involve balancing multiple competing factors. But that > makes it important to be clear about your design goals, and then apply > appropriate judgment. It does not mean throw out your design goals. And > it does not mean make them absolute rules so the process can work > without human judgment. One can have multiple competing principles. /Then/ we can do the tradeoff. You do not need to express all this judgement within the principles. Doing /that/ is poor judgement. Otherwise, I note that you mention "goals". -- leif halvard silli
Received on Monday, 1 June 2009 00:47:08 UTC