CBoard Community Project: Poll #1

[brewbuck]

There are a lot of good project ideas in this thread. I've tried to collect all of the specific ideas. I present these here in a poll. Since there are a lot of ideas, and an unknown number of voters, I'm not sure how good of a picture we will get.

I'd prefer some kind of instant-runoff voting, but we can't do that here, so let's simulate it with multiple polls. If this initial poll doesn't show a clear winning idea, let's cut the number of ideas in half (keeping the top 50% vote-winners) and try again. We'll pare it down eventually.

The options are presented in a randomized order.

Happy voting.

[Brafil]

Maybe we'd get some voters here? It looks a bit deserted for a community project.

[MK27]

Originally Posted by Brafil

Maybe we'd get some voters here? It looks a bit deserted for a community project.

ixnay. 9 sounds like plenty to me.

[laserlight]

Originally Posted by MK27

9 sounds like plenty to me.

Plus I am still undecided

[Akkernight]

ahh! So many of those are mine, or well I suggested them some time back, now I'm stuck at which to choose D:

[MK27]

Originally Posted by Akkernight

ahh! So many of those are mine, or well I suggested them some time back, now I'm stuck at which to choose D:

You can actually choose all of them, it's multiple choiceS -- try.

[Akkernight]

Awesome!
Also, if we're going for the scripting language, I'll make a compiler for it that produces Mount&Blade .txt files :O Don't wanna learn python xP

[MK27]

Originally Posted by Akkernight

Don't wanna learn python xP

I think you should, it is probably much easier than C++

I notice my SDL file browser* idea did not make the list! Oh well, I guess I can let that die...I will have to do something nasty to brewbuck later in revenge.

*first person "shooter" with sound affects!! Batch copy (gattling) this!!

[Akkernight]

I'm taking C++ courses and doing pretty well, don't wanna confuse myself now

[brewbuck]

Originally Posted by MK27

I think you should, it is probably much easier than C++

I notice my SDL file browser* idea did not make the list! Oh well, I guess I can let that die...I will have to do something nasty to brewbuck later in revenge.

*first person "shooter" with sound affects!! Batch copy (gattling) this!!

Sorry if I missed your (or anybody else's) idea. I didn't omit anything on purpose.

We don't have to limit ourselves to one project (although we should maintain a semblence of purpose and priority). Let's see how this poll turns out. We can commit other ideas to a backlog that we'll reach eventually.

I'm currently thinking through some options for project management style. I think we should open our development process with a series of calls for comments, and produce a set of base documents that describe the generalities of the process. From there we can start synthesizing a design.

I'll try to get the first doc ready in the next few days, along with an initial development roadmap and timeline. Let's let this poll close first.

[Snafuist]

Originally Posted by brewbuck

We don't have to limit ourselves to one project (although we should maintain a semblence of purpose and priority). Let's see how this poll turns out. We can commit other ideas to a backlog that we'll reach eventually.

Not sure, but I think we should concentrate on one project at a time. Once we accomplished the first project, we'll already have a good starting point (in terms of code) for succeeding projects.

I'm currently thinking through some options for project management style. I think we should open our development process with a series of calls for comments, and produce a set of base documents that describe the generalities of the process. From there we can start synthesizing a design.

That's a nice way of saying "let's first gather some ideas and write them down". I fully embrace this plan.


By the way, do we use some advanced method of unit testing or do we simply hope for the best?

Greets,
Philip

[brewbuck]

Originally Posted by Snafuist

Not sure, but I think we should concentrate on one project at a time. Once we accomplished the first project, we'll already have a good starting point (in terms of code) for succeeding projects.

I agree. It's premature to judge the results of the poll, but an inventive person can already see a clear timeline developing there.

That's a nice way of saying "let's first gather some ideas and write them down". I fully embrace this plan.

Yes, but at the same time, we should produce a clear timeline so that we don't stall forever while thinking about what to do. That's why I'm going to produce "Doc #1" and from there we can generate several other documents before beginning the actual development effort.

By the way, do we use some advanced method of unit testing or do we simply hope for the best?

A coherent unit test framework will be difficult in a project with mixed C/C++ development. In my experience, any form of unit testing (even undesigned, ad hoc tests defined by the developer) are valuable, at least during initial development. I favor a realistic development approach where the primary goal is usable, stable software. The unit tests are a means to that end.

I am fairly experienced in agile development processes. My style will be along those lines, but I want to keep this project democratic. Once the poll closes, and I kick off the proceedings with Doc 1, we'll see what kind of ecosystem develops.

[zacs7]

Oh I hope the first one doesn't win .

A. Parsers are a lot of work
B. VMs are a lot of work
C. Compilers are a lot of work
D. What use is another language?

[Brafil]

1. Cool. We are many people here, and we should do something bigger. Not just a quick-and-dirty script.
2. ^^
3. ^^
4. <looking around to find a good answer> ... <resigns> ... Oh, wait. Just 4 fun! <sees this answer is bu... not fine>

I hope the 6th one doesn't win ;-p
1. Portability is a lot of work
2. Sounds boring to me
3. Either it involves a small language such as m4 (dependency) or it creates a new one (involves parsing etc.)
4. What use is another build system?

Anyway, I'd be happy with most of those choices. xD

[Wraithan]

I'd be interested in giving it a go if the first one wins, the others are I am not as interested and may or may not participate in (may just write unit tests for code as it is developed). As far as the language is concerned, I know I will be pretty much useless if it is mainly C, but if it is C++ I can get my hands dirty.