Recent posts by skyknight and in particular some of the responses given have inspired me to write this post.

It can be said (with a fair degree of certainty) that Perl's killer app is CPAN. I have never before seen such a vast repository of code which is free for the taking. Now sure, a lot of it is just pure crap, but a decent enough percentage of it is not (and by decent, I would say 20-30 percent). Sure, its hard to tell the difference sometimes, but things like the CPAN rating system, CPAN-testers and the Phalanax project are a step in the right direction (even though they are still in their early stages).

But I think that sometimes people forget that CPAN didn't get to be what it is overnight. CPAN is an organic thing, and like most things organic, is best grown in a bed of rich soil mixed with a healthy dose of crap (a.k.a. fertilizer). Because one never knows when the next Module::Everyone::Loves might spring from this layer of code-fertilizer (as many others have before).

Other recent discussions (which have not started out about whether the phrase "Software Engineering" is an affront to Engineers, but have evolved into it) have convinced me that the Art of Software Components is really still in its infancy, and quite possibly still has a very long way to go. And I am sure that anyone who has been subject to the torture of using some of the many "Off-The-Shelf" components (whose companies have bigger marketing budgets than development budgets) will back me up on this.

This brings me around to my main point. CPAN and the Modules::Everyone::Loves are no more examples of the pinnacle of the evolutionary process than we Homo Sapiens are. There is always room for improvement, and I believe that there should always be room for Mouse::Trap::Better to be uploaded to CPAN, even if it really should be called Mouse::Trap::Worse.

And for those whom building modules isn't their thing, there are many other ways to contribute to the Evolution. The Phalanax project is an excellent, excellent, excellent way to spend you time. I recently had a week to kill between projects, and was able to convince my boss to let me volunteer some of my time to Phalanax. I spent a week helping to clean up DBI's test suite. My boss immediately saw the value since we use DBI for just about every project we do. This site too is a great way to contribute (but I don't need to tell any of you that). The CPAN ratings guys have a to-do list posted. CPAN testers I am sure can always use another CPU to thrash around.

Seriously folks, if we all work together, we can build a better tomorrow :)

Now come one, everybody sing along to the CPAN National Anthem.....

-stvn
  • Comment on RFC: Mouse::Trap::Better.pm (Viva La Evolution!)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: RFC: Mouse::Trap::Better.pm (Viva La Evolution!)
by demerphq (Chancellor) on Jun 25, 2004 at 01:01 UTC

    I like the idea of the Phalanx project but its a little annoying to discover I have a module (in tier 2 no less) in the list by following the links you've posted. It would have been nice to have received a mail about it at some point.


    ---
    demerphq

      First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
      -- Gandhi
[reply]

      I wouldn't take offense, matter of fact that says that a number of people thought your module was good enough to be on the list, which is really a compliment.

      It would have been nice to have received a mail about it at some point.

      The way the project works though is that just because its on the list doesn't mean anything (other than what I said above), not until someone comes along and decides to take on your module will anyone try to get in touch with you. Unfortunately not many people have been volunteering though.

      *cough* hint *cough*

      (not necessarily to you, but to the monostary at large)

      -stvn
[reply]

        Oh i wasn't taking offense at all. And while it is moderately flattering I must admit I inherited M::L from its author so I cant take too much credit for it.

        But i will say that i think not informing the authors they are on the list is a mistake. What better way to get word-of-mouth advertising of the site. I mean if the authors don't know about it what reason should anyone else?

        Anyway, it would seem good policy not to allow authors to "take on" their own stuff, but if I see any serialization module in the list then ill have a go at punishing them (someday.) (Oooh, YAML is in the list. :-)


        ---
        demerphq

          First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
          -- Gandhi
[reply]

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