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<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;">From: Todd Willey [todd@ansolabs.com]<br>
<i>> I, too, appreciate people taking their time to write blueprints. I<br>
also appreciate people who take time to write code, even if it doesn't<br>
come with a blueprint. People who take their creative energy to<br>
contribute to something I love earn enough favor that my default state<br>
is to try and accept their contribution without imposing additional<br>
barriers to entry. Maybe a patch comes in that it isn't reasonable to<br>
merge, but we never know unless we actually look at it with the<br>
mindset of trying to accept it. I still expect that people give<br>
blueprint-level details in merge proposals so that we can follow the<br>
code with an understanding of what you're trying to accomplish,<br>
otherwise we'd do right to mark it "Needs Information" and get the<br>
clarity we need.</i><br>
<br>
Todd brings up an interesting point here. <br>
<br>
I think of a blueprint as requirements gathering vs design. Code without
<div>agreed-upon requirements has the risk of solving the wrong problems.</div>
<div>It doesn't have to be a tome ... notes are fine.<br>
<br>
The example I can cite is directapi/authn/authz. While having the code is </div>
<div>a great discussion point, the spec and notes don't really give enough to explain:<br>
* the use cases (happy day and exceptions)<br>
* the actors involved<br>
* the cons (lots of pro's given)<br>
<br>
Having a blueprint to go with it would have given us time to think </div>
<div>about the problem while the code was being put together. </div>
<div><br>
Now, I have a body of code to look at, but now I need to understand </div>
<div>the gotcha's of adopting it. The How's and the Why's. A blueprint would </div>
<div>make this much easier. <br>
<br>
Secondly, while I'm a strong advocate of code over talk I think there is </div>
<div>an unwritten assumption that, simply because there is code, it deserves </div>
<div>merge into the code stream. If code takes the place of a blueprint, it </div>
<div>should get the same weight as a blueprint. That is, it may get rejected </div>
<div>outright or alternative designs recommended to the point the code is a </div>
<div>throwaway. <br>
<br>
$0.02<br>
<br>
-S<br>
<br>
PS> And don't get me wrong, directapi/authn/z are all impressive </div>
<div>branches, completely worthy of our full attention.<br>
<br>
</div>
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