Hi Michael, > However - reading the win32 spec - it -seems- that the specification > for this feature is almost totally absent involving the immortal lines: > > "...is kept unchanged to the implementation used in OOo 1.1". > ... > There is a screenshot, but no technical detail - particularly of the > kind that mentions where links are created etc.
Right, the specification is not ... really comprehensive here. Which, technically, is a bug in the specification document ;) > **If** I was a spec enthusiast, and I thought that *any* of this was > worth fixing, I would point out that the quality of this spec is not so > good. > > * Bugs in the spec. > ... > * Points: > ... I agree to most of the items you mentioned, not all. Some are addressed in the current spec template, some are undoubted bugs in the document. I don't have an answer to this. I still think the document has its value. But from certain of you comments, especially the repeated example of "self stultifying arguments", I suppose you won't accept when I say I think that we're "learning by doing". In specifications as well as in coding ;) > * Why does it matter that it's broken ? > > The rational I hear for the spec. process is basically one of > oppression by methodology: people cannot be trusted to infer what a > feature should actually do - therefore it is vital to specify it in > minute detail. Thus - (it is implied) that by reading the spec. you can > tell if a problem is a bug in the software (where it doesn't conform) or > a 'feature' (where it does). > > The problem with this is of course, that clearly the bug could instead > be in the spec. - it is by no means given that the spec. is perfect. > Hence even more thought (and worse) work is required to deduce [ from 2 > sources ] whether the spec. is borked, or is it the implementation ? or > the test ? or the design ? or ... I cannot but agree here. Reading [EMAIL PROTECTED], you might notice that I repeatedly argued that specification documents become increasingly useless over time, if they're not embedded in some system to ensure that they (means: we have a chance to keep them) up-to-date. A document management system, in particular, which for instance allows to search for the spec covering the functionality I am going to change. However, I fear you won't like this idea, and label it is even more bureaucracy. Ciao Frank -- - Frank Schönheit, Software Engineer [EMAIL PROTECTED] - - Sun Microsystems http://www.sun.com/staroffice - - OpenOffice.org Database http://dba.openoffice.org - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
