On Sun, 2009-01-04 at 15:47 +0300, Ivan Illarionov wrote: > On Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 7:22 AM, David White <d...@whitevine.net> wrote: > > > I personally tend to be of the view that for a project like Wesnoth, > > using dynamic typing extensively will be much more problematic. I am not > > sure of any programs that are large (i.e. teams of 5+ coders, developed > > over years) and have GUI's that are written in any dynamically typed > > languages, but I would enjoy hearing of them if anyone has any examples. > > Few examples: > Major portion of Mozilla FIrefox is written in Javascript/XUL and most > of its plugins are written in Javascript.
Actually, the Mozilla Firefox model is the kind of thing that I think we *should* be looking at with Python. As far as I understand it, the project was originally entirely C++, with Javascript used as a client side extension language for websites. However, some of the developers on the project found that Javascript could be used for more and more functionality, and as they found how useful this was, they extended it to more and more parts of the project. I think think is exactly the kind of model we should use for Wesnoth. Python is already used for the AI. That could be improved to actually make it usable, and then Python could be used to solve real problems with the game. For instance, people have complained about how the random maps generated are not balanced. If we supported random map generation using Python, perhaps we could easily make map generators that were better balanced, or support symmetric random map generation better. Likewise, everyone loves Wesnoth's add-on server, but it has a small parade of outstanding feature requests. If the server and client portion were both re-written in Python, perhaps these feature requests could be better satisfied. I'm going to be really honest: you're presenting yourself in entirely the wrong way to the project. I don't think very many people care much to hear "this code here should be in Python because it is better for it than C++!!!" What we'd much prefer to hear is, "I implemented this really cool feature which our users will love, and oh yeah...the implementation is in Python." If features implemented in this way are successful and usable and robust, other developers will take note. Code you write in one part of the project that is useful will be reused in other parts. Under promise and over deliver. I have heard of scores of people in Wesnoth's history that have said they were going to do something, and then nothing ever came of it. Make small changes. Build confidence and momentum slowly. Gain developer trust. Finally, I will make one thing clear, so that neither you or anyone else wastes effort unnecessarily: Software development projects -- whether Open Source or closed source -- do not accept large, multi-thousand line patches from previously unknown contributors. It is simply not done, regardless of the reason for the patch. Doing so would be far too dangerous for the project. If I found another project at my workplace and decided to send them a small useful patch, it would probably be welcomed. If I sent them a 3000 line change, it would be rejected out of hand, regardless of the functionality it introduced. This is simply the way software development works. In the same way, Wesnoth has never, and will never accept large, multi-thousand line patches, regardless of the reason for the patch. Developers who are interested in making large contributions to Wesnoth should make small, useful changes, have them accepted by the development community, gain the confidence of the development community, obtain SVN access, and then continue to make small changes to begin with, evolving Wesnoth in a direction that is embraced by other developers. > Komodo IDE uses Python as a main language on top of Mozilla engine. > Sketch/Skencil/SK3 is a family of open-source vector drawing programs > written in Python almost entirly. > > Ivan _______________________________________________ Wesnoth-dev mailing list Wesnoth-dev@gna.org https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/wesnoth-dev
