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Posted to fop-dev@xmlgraphics.apache.org by "Peter B. West" <li...@pbw.id.au> on 2005/09/29 17:50:15 UTC
Maintainability
Fopsters,
I've always been somewhat sceptical of the new approach to page
breaking, although I was prepared to concede that it would be a great
achievement if you pulled it off.
However, the closer the development has come to fruition, the more some
of my original concerns have been reinforced. Think about the enormous
amount of intellectual effort that has gone into mapping the problem
into Knuthian. That effort is still under way.
How is this going to be maintained? Where are the Knuthian speakers who
are going to do that job over the next few years?
I'm surprised, in fact, that some of the old hands have not raised this
question already.
Peter
--
Peter B. West <http://cv.pbw.id.au/>
Folio <http://defoe.sourceforge.net/folio/>
Re: Maintainability
Posted by "Peter B. West" <li...@pbw.id.au>.
Peter S. Housel wrote:
> "Peter B. West" <li...@pbw.id.au> wrote:
>
>> Simon Pepping wrote:
>>
>>> Maintaining FOP means maintaining a digital typesetting system means
>>> maintaining some of the best digital typography algorithms.
>>>
>>> I plan to resume my documenting activities in the coming months. I
>>> look forward to the challenge to document Knuth's algorithms and FOP's
>>> implementation of them in a clear and widely understandable fashion.
>>
>>
>> That's a good thing, Simon, and your documentation is very
>> comprehensive. However, I think the question still deserves serious
>> consideration.
>
>
> You seem to be saying that inferior algorithms should be used for the
> sake of developers who don't have time to read the internals
> documentation. That doesn't seem like a worthwhile trade-off to me.
>
> -Peter-
No. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what I said.
Peter
--
Peter B. West <http://cv.pbw.id.au/>
Folio <http://defoe.sourceforge.net/folio/>
Re: Maintainability
Posted by "Peter S. Housel" <ho...@acm.org>.
"Peter B. West" <li...@pbw.id.au> wrote:
> Simon Pepping wrote:
>> Maintaining FOP means maintaining a digital typesetting system means
>> maintaining some of the best digital typography algorithms.
>>
>> I plan to resume my documenting activities in the coming months. I
>> look forward to the challenge to document Knuth's algorithms and FOP's
>> implementation of them in a clear and widely understandable fashion.
>
> That's a good thing, Simon, and your documentation is very comprehensive.
> However, I think the question still deserves serious consideration.
You seem to be saying that inferior algorithms should be used for the sake
of developers who don't have time to read the internals documentation. That
doesn't seem like a worthwhile trade-off to me.
-Peter-
Re: Maintainability
Posted by "Peter B. West" <li...@pbw.id.au>.
Simon Pepping wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 29, 2005 at 04:50:15PM +0100, Peter B. West wrote:
>
>>Fopsters,
>>
>>I've always been somewhat sceptical of the new approach to page
>>breaking, although I was prepared to concede that it would be a great
>>achievement if you pulled it off.
>>
>>However, the closer the development has come to fruition, the more some
>>of my original concerns have been reinforced. Think about the enormous
>>amount of intellectual effort that has gone into mapping the problem
>>into Knuthian. That effort is still under way.
>>
>>How is this going to be maintained? Where are the Knuthian speakers who
>>are going to do that job over the next few years?
>
>
> Maintaining FOP means maintaining a digital typesetting system means
> maintaining some of the best digital typography algorithms.
>
> I plan to resume my documenting activities in the coming months. I
> look forward to the challenge to document Knuth's algorithms and FOP's
> implementation of them in a clear and widely understandable fashion.
>
That's a good thing, Simon, and your documentation is very
comprehensive. However, I think the question still deserves serious
consideration.
Peter
> Simon
>
>
>>I'm surprised, in fact, that some of the old hands have not raised this
>>question already.
--
Peter B. West <http://cv.pbw.id.au/>
Folio <http://defoe.sourceforge.net/folio/>
Re: Maintainability
Posted by Simon Pepping <sp...@leverkruid.nl>.
On Thu, Sep 29, 2005 at 04:50:15PM +0100, Peter B. West wrote:
> Fopsters,
>
> I've always been somewhat sceptical of the new approach to page
> breaking, although I was prepared to concede that it would be a great
> achievement if you pulled it off.
>
> However, the closer the development has come to fruition, the more some
> of my original concerns have been reinforced. Think about the enormous
> amount of intellectual effort that has gone into mapping the problem
> into Knuthian. That effort is still under way.
>
> How is this going to be maintained? Where are the Knuthian speakers who
> are going to do that job over the next few years?
Maintaining FOP means maintaining a digital typesetting system means
maintaining some of the best digital typography algorithms.
I plan to resume my documenting activities in the coming months. I
look forward to the challenge to document Knuth's algorithms and FOP's
implementation of them in a clear and widely understandable fashion.
Simon
> I'm surprised, in fact, that some of the old hands have not raised this
> question already.
>
> Peter
> --
> Peter B. West <http://cv.pbw.id.au/>
> Folio <http://defoe.sourceforge.net/folio/>
--
Simon Pepping
home page: http://www.leverkruid.nl