MrTact
Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 12
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 1:01 pm Post subject: Helping with DSSS |
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I heard through aldacron's blog you're looking for some help with DSSS. I think that's great news!
Although DSSS is pretty amazing, it's not quite to the level of CPAN or RubyGems, and I think that's unfortunate. There are coding challenges, true, but building the software is only part of the equation. Here are some things that I think DSSS needs to make it the canonical way to get D software:
Right now, the repository web site is down, but the last time I checked it, more builds were broken than worked. IMHO the repo should be hosted by a provider that does this sort of thing for a living (e.g. SourceForge, Tigris, etc.), and we need to make a significant effort to ensure that the projects that are hosted there build correctly on all supported platforms.
Evangelism. It seems like many D developers are onboard with DSSS, but I struggle with getting many of the projects that ship with dsss.conf files to build properly. Someone ought to be actively soliciting input from those folks about ways in which DSSS can better suit their needs, making it worth their while to make sure their shit builds.
On the flip side, we ought to be preaching to the community, as well. When I started out using D, I struggled greatly with just getting the compiler and libraries set up (yes, I admit, I have been spoiled by Visual Studio/Xcode/GCC). When I found DSSS, I was over the moon, it made my life so much easier... when it worked. If DSSS could just make those obstacles go away, that will lower the bar significantly to adoption of D as a serious programming language.
So in short: I'm interested in helping with the coding of DSSS. However, I think there's also a bigger picture here that needs some love, too.
Tim K. |
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