[FFmpeg-cvslog] r11225 - trunk/libavformat/avformat.h

The Wanderer inverseparadox
Mon Dec 17 13:24:30 CET 2007


Michael Niedermayer wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 10:53:07AM +0100, Diego Biurrun wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 02:38:19AM +0100, Michael Niedermayer
>> wrote:

>>> i prefer to concentrate on fixing things which do matter to our
>>> developers and users, over things which dont and belive it or not
>>> reading everything twice to fix spelling capitalization and all
>>> that takes time, time i could spent fixing some issues
>> 
>> It also takes me time to doublecheck my commits, time I could spend
>>  fixing other issues.  Diligence always takes time, but it's worth
>> it.
>> 
>> I can claim with some confidence that I can write English at near
>> native levels yet I always reread any documentation I write two or
>> three times to make sure it's correct and understandable.

For that matter, I am a native speaker of English, and I tend to reread
even the *mailing list posts* I write at least once for that purpose;
documentation I can literally spend hours over when I'm in the mood for
it.

>> So how much time are we talking about and what percentage of the
>> time you take to write Doxygen documentation would it take to
>> expand a condensed "dont" into "do not"?  We are talking about
>> typing two more characters.  This is not asking much.
> 
> first i dont like doing the work of a pre commit check script,

Does a pre-commit check script also check the commit message?

(I'm kind of of the opinion that this is not something which is properly
the domain of automated checking to begin with, but I don't have good
arguments to support it right now.)

> second iam a volunteer and having to reread doxygen comments 3 times
> to spot 2/3 of these problems is not fun, i already reread them many
> times to make them correct and comprehensible.

Are you talking about comments you review, or comments you write?

I don't think anyone is expecting you to do all of this for the former,
but it does not seem unreasonable to expect you to make the modicum of
effort to avoid things like "dont" (which to my mental ear rhymes with
"font") or "iam" or "awnser" or the like - those three being the most
common ones I've noticed from you - in documentation which you yourself
are writing.

>> However, the main problem I have is the attitude you are
>> telegraphing by refusing to give in on this issue.  "I do whatever
>> damn well I want and consider right; I don't give a damn what
>> others think about the issue."
> 
> but these others are just you and mans ...

No, it is not; at the least it includes me. I just don't speak up,
because A: I don't have the time to spend fixing the problems, B: I have
no reason to expect you to listen to me (as I haven't been even a
courtesy developer of anything in Quite Some Time), and C: I don't like
having people annoyed at me even when actually necessary.

I have also observed this "I don't give a damn" attitude, and it is
frankly perhaps the least pleasant aspect of your personality I've
noticed over the years on these lists. It reminds me somewhat of Uoti's
attitude about adhering to the rules on declaration-before-statement
code, except that his offense is actually prohibited by the rules
whereas yours is just bad manners.


Is it really the case that someone who's as good at code, and as capable
of making himself understood in English, as you are is that incapable of
internalizing small but critical things like capitalization, basic
punctuation (I freely acknowledge that the advanced form, and the
sentence organization and flow which go along with it, is a much more
complicated matter), and a few fairly-specific spellings?

-- 
       The Wanderer

Warning: Simply because I argue an issue does not mean I agree with any
side of it.

Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.




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