In praise of Jim Blandy.

[kf...@collab.net]

Ben Collins-Sussman <su...@collab.net> writes:
> I also think we should throw some praise toward Jim Blandy.  Even
> though he's not an active svn developer anymore, he's really the
> "great grandfather" of this project.  Before there was any code or
> slides, Subversion was just a twinkle in his eye.  He not only named
> the project, but conceived the design of the repository.  The project
> will always be his baby in some sense.  Thanks, Jim.

Yes!  It's a testament to the solidity of Jim's design that, even
three years after he stopped doing active development, Subversion
still looks basically as he envisioned it.

For those who don't know: Subversion's repository model, with the
revision numbers and the trees and the shared storage and the
"directory bubble-up" and all that, is Jim Blandy's creation.  It has
been tweaked only slightly since he came up with it.  Also, the delta
editor interface, another fundamental part of Subversion, was Jim's
idea, and he designed its interface as well.

I guess I want to say all this because there aren't commits today
keeping Jim's name in front of the dev and user community.  If you
joined the project now, you might never know how much he contributed.

Jim works full time on GDB at Red Hat now; he also worked on Emacs for
a long time.  So next time you're stepping through Subversion code in
the GNU Debugger inside Emacs GUD mode, remember: It's Jim's world,
you're just livin' in it :-).

-Karl

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Re: In praise of Jim Blandy.

[Jim Blandy <ji...@redhat.com>]

kfogel@collab.net writes:

> Ben Collins-Sussman <su...@collab.net> writes:
> > I also think we should throw some praise toward Jim Blandy.  Even
> > though he's not an active svn developer anymore, he's really the
> > "great grandfather" of this project.  Before there was any code or
> > slides, Subversion was just a twinkle in his eye.  He not only named
> > the project, but conceived the design of the repository.  The project
> > will always be his baby in some sense.  Thanks, Jim.
> 
> Yes!  It's a testament to the solidity of Jim's design that, even
> three years after he stopped doing active development, Subversion
> still looks basically as he envisioned it.
> 
> For those who don't know: Subversion's repository model, with the
> revision numbers and the trees and the shared storage and the
> "directory bubble-up" and all that, is Jim Blandy's creation.  It has
> been tweaked only slightly since he came up with it.  Also, the delta
> editor interface, another fundamental part of Subversion, was Jim's
> idea, and he designed its interface as well.
> 
> I guess I want to say all this because there aren't commits today
> keeping Jim's name in front of the dev and user community.  If you
> joined the project now, you might never know how much he contributed.
> 
> Jim works full time on GDB at Red Hat now; he also worked on Emacs for
> a long time.  So next time you're stepping through Subversion code in
> the GNU Debugger inside Emacs GUD mode, remember: It's Jim's world,
> you're just livin' in it :-).

*snif*  That's way too much credit --- but thanks.


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Re: In praise of Jim Blandy.

[Jim Blandy <ji...@redhat.com>]

kfogel@collab.net writes:

> Ben Collins-Sussman <su...@collab.net> writes:
> > I also think we should throw some praise toward Jim Blandy.  Even
> > though he's not an active svn developer anymore, he's really the
> > "great grandfather" of this project.  Before there was any code or
> > slides, Subversion was just a twinkle in his eye.  He not only named
> > the project, but conceived the design of the repository.  The project
> > will always be his baby in some sense.  Thanks, Jim.
> 
> Yes!  It's a testament to the solidity of Jim's design that, even
> three years after he stopped doing active development, Subversion
> still looks basically as he envisioned it.
> 
> For those who don't know: Subversion's repository model, with the
> revision numbers and the trees and the shared storage and the
> "directory bubble-up" and all that, is Jim Blandy's creation.  It has
> been tweaked only slightly since he came up with it.  Also, the delta
> editor interface, another fundamental part of Subversion, was Jim's
> idea, and he designed its interface as well.
> 
> I guess I want to say all this because there aren't commits today
> keeping Jim's name in front of the dev and user community.  If you
> joined the project now, you might never know how much he contributed.
> 
> Jim works full time on GDB at Red Hat now; he also worked on Emacs for
> a long time.  So next time you're stepping through Subversion code in
> the GNU Debugger inside Emacs GUD mode, remember: It's Jim's world,
> you're just livin' in it :-).

*snif*  That's way too much credit --- but thanks.


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