[Catalyst-dev] Opinionation

[Gavin Henry]

<quote who="Matt S Trout">
> People have for quite a while suggested that we should be more
> opinionated,
> that we should guide people down a "One True Way". and lots of other
> people
> have said "no, that's a bad idea" for all the obvious reasons.

Hi Matt,

I highly agree.

>
> And they're all Catalyst users and they're all presumably enjoying using
> it.
> So why do we have this big dividing line that we've argued back and forth
> over
> on the list almost as many times as config file formats.

I think it's experience. New people want to be guided quickly, without to
many design decisions, so if we provide good examples, then they are
sorted. Experienced users find new and better ways, so they want freedom.

>
> I think I might have finally figured out the answer:
>
> Catalyst has a One True Way.
>
> "Do whatever makes most sense within the design of *your* application"
>
> Am I on crack? If so, is it good crack? ;)

I agree. The technique I enjoy, as with any OSS Framework/software with
such power, is by the dev/doc team and experienced users providing Example
Apps, which show the way "we would do it", then a user can adapt them for
*their* application.

If we force certain ways in the framework, then people will break out of
it and we all end up in a mess that can't be supported (for free ;-) ).
But... if we have examples of good Catalyst applications, (with the right
way to find Myapp.yml ;-) ), then that's all we can do.

And that's a *lot* IMHO.

Hopefully, when people have seen these examples and docs and found bugs or
better ways, these improvements come back to us, and help complete the
"Circle of Free/OSS" ;-)

Anyway, I just really wanted to say carry on the great work!

Cheers,

Gavin.

-- 
Kind Regards,

Gavin Henry.
Managing Director.

T +44 (0) 1224 279484
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E ghenry at suretecsystems.com

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