R devel - Aug 2010 - fortune? (was: Re: How do you make a formal "feature" request?)

Dear all
I was wondering whether such a long post could be fortune-ed. What do you think?

Regards
Liviu


On Sat, Aug 21, 2010 at 9:33 PM, Sharpie <chuck at sharpsteen.net>
wrote:
> Well, I can think of three ways it can go down:
>
>
> 1. ?You want a shiny new pony.
>
> You ask about it on the mailing list and it seems that everyone else in the
> world responds "Hell yeah! I want to ride that too!". ?In this
case the
> natives are restless enough that someone on R-Core may personally implement
> the feature- especially if they want to ride the pony as well.
>
> In this case, you need to provide a detailed specification of what kind of
> pony you want, how it should be groomed and the exact pitch at which you
> want it to whinny. ?A good template for such as spec would be a Python
> Enhancement Proposal (PEP) which is the way community-suggested core
changes
> are implemented in python. ?An example is:
> http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0389/
>
> However, going this route is extremely rare. ?You have to have a
significant
> amount of the user community rallying behind your idea and buy-in from core
> developers who are interested in implementing and, most importantly,
> maintaining and supporting the code.
>
>
> 2. You want a shiny new pony but not many other people in the word seem
> interested.
>
> In this situation you can do the work yourself, or with a group of other
> like-minded pony enthusiasts, to bring your idea into the world. ?Perhaps
> the genetic material you are looking for is already present in the vast
> herds of other ponies running wild on CRAN and elsewhere and you just have
> to do a little breeding to get what you want. ?Other times, the only way to
> do right is to write everything from scratch. ?Either way, in the end you
> will have a pony that shines exactly the way you want it to that you can
> enjoy for the rest of your life.
>
> In this case, getting your new pony into R Core is unlikely. ?The best
> response you can hope for is something along the lines of "That is a
mighty
> fine pony you have there, but we really don't want it crapping all over
our
> stable". ?They are not trying to be rude- the facts of life are that
the
> members of R Core have a limited amount of time and a lot of other ponies
to
> clean up after. ?Add to that the fact that shoveling pony shit is a
> thankless job that does not pay well and it is understandable why R Core
may
> be conservative about the number of ponies they let into the official
> stable.
>
> However, they will be more than happy to provide your pony with a stall at
> CRAN so that everyone else in the world can take it out for a spin. ?I have
> never had a problem with installing and using packages from CRAN, even on
> windows machines that have been locked down and then shot in both kneecaps
> by the friendly neighborhood IT gestapo. ?All and all, this option is
> actually a pretty sweet deal; you will just have to drop by the CRAN stall
> every once and a while and deal with the pony droppings yourself or people
> will start to avoid it because of the smell.
>
>
> 3. You want a shiny new pony, but dont have the time or energy to pick out
> or put together the exact one you want.
>
> In this case, you can still get the pony you want but it will cost you
> money. ?There are R programmers out there who can write you a package if
you
> pay them the right price. ?Supporting your local grad student population
can
> also work; hunger is a great motivator.
>
> In the end you can also pay a corporate pony breeder like SAS for a trusty
> thoroughbred that is well respected by people in high places. ?However, you
> may notice that these ponies bear some telltale signs of inbreeding-- one
of
> their eyes may not point in the same direction as the other or the pony
> becomes confused easily when put in an unfamiliar situation. ?Given there
is
> not a lot you can do about these defects, you may suffer a crippling case
of
> buyers remorse especially when you see the bill.
>
>
> Ok, I think i've thoroughly beat this horse analogy to death and
I'm going
> to stop now.
>
> -Charlie
>
>
> -----
> Charlie Sharpsteen
> Undergraduate-- Environmental Resources Engineering
> Humboldt State University
> --
> View this message in context:
http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/How-do-you-make-a-formal-feature-request-tp2333593p2333737.html
> Sent from the R devel mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>


-- 
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On Sun, 22 Aug 2010, Liviu Andronic wrote:
> Dear all I was wondering whether such a long post could be fortune-ed. 
> What do you think?
It's a nice write-up :-) But a bit too long for a fortune...you wouldn't
see nothing else (and maybe not even the start of the fortune) upon 
startup.

Thanks for the pointer anyway,
Z
> Regards
> Liviu
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 21, 2010 at 9:33 PM, Sharpie <chuck at sharpsteen.net>
wrote:
>> Well, I can think of three ways it can go down:
>>
>>
>> 1. ?You want a shiny new pony.
>>
>> You ask about it on the mailing list and it seems that everyone else in
the
>> world responds "Hell yeah! I want to ride that too!". ?In
this case the
>> natives are restless enough that someone on R-Core may personally
implement
>> the feature- especially if they want to ride the pony as well.
>>
>> In this case, you need to provide a detailed specification of what kind
of
>> pony you want, how it should be groomed and the exact pitch at which
you
>> want it to whinny. ?A good template for such as spec would be a Python
>> Enhancement Proposal (PEP) which is the way community-suggested core
changes
>> are implemented in python. ?An example is:
>> http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0389/
>>
>> However, going this route is extremely rare. ?You have to have a
significant
>> amount of the user community rallying behind your idea and buy-in from
core
>> developers who are interested in implementing and, most importantly,
>> maintaining and supporting the code.
>>
>>
>> 2. You want a shiny new pony but not many other people in the word seem
>> interested.
>>
>> In this situation you can do the work yourself, or with a group of
other
>> like-minded pony enthusiasts, to bring your idea into the world.
?Perhaps
>> the genetic material you are looking for is already present in the vast
>> herds of other ponies running wild on CRAN and elsewhere and you just
have
>> to do a little breeding to get what you want. ?Other times, the only
way to
>> do right is to write everything from scratch. ?Either way, in the end
you
>> will have a pony that shines exactly the way you want it to that you
can
>> enjoy for the rest of your life.
>>
>> In this case, getting your new pony into R Core is unlikely. ?The best
>> response you can hope for is something along the lines of "That is
a mighty
>> fine pony you have there, but we really don't want it crapping all
over our
>> stable". ?They are not trying to be rude- the facts of life are
that the
>> members of R Core have a limited amount of time and a lot of other
ponies to
>> clean up after. ?Add to that the fact that shoveling pony shit is a
>> thankless job that does not pay well and it is understandable why R
Core may
>> be conservative about the number of ponies they let into the official
>> stable.
>>
>> However, they will be more than happy to provide your pony with a stall
at
>> CRAN so that everyone else in the world can take it out for a spin. ?I
have
>> never had a problem with installing and using packages from CRAN, even
on
>> windows machines that have been locked down and then shot in both
kneecaps
>> by the friendly neighborhood IT gestapo. ?All and all, this option is
>> actually a pretty sweet deal; you will just have to drop by the CRAN
stall
>> every once and a while and deal with the pony droppings yourself or
people
>> will start to avoid it because of the smell.
>>
>>
>> 3. You want a shiny new pony, but dont have the time or energy to pick
out
>> or put together the exact one you want.
>>
>> In this case, you can still get the pony you want but it will cost you
>> money. ?There are R programmers out there who can write you a package
if you
>> pay them the right price. ?Supporting your local grad student
population can
>> also work; hunger is a great motivator.
>>
>> In the end you can also pay a corporate pony breeder like SAS for a
trusty
>> thoroughbred that is well respected by people in high places. ?However,
you
>> may notice that these ponies bear some telltale signs of inbreeding--
one of
>> their eyes may not point in the same direction as the other or the pony
>> becomes confused easily when put in an unfamiliar situation. ?Given
there is
>> not a lot you can do about these defects, you may suffer a crippling
case of
>> buyers remorse especially when you see the bill.
>>
>>
>> Ok, I think i've thoroughly beat this horse analogy to death and
I'm going
>> to stop now.
>>
>> -Charlie
>>
>>
>> -----
>> Charlie Sharpsteen
>> Undergraduate-- Environmental Resources Engineering
>> Humboldt State University
>> --
>> View this message in context:
http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/How-do-you-make-a-formal-feature-request-tp2333593p2333737.html
>> Sent from the R devel mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Do you know how to read?
> http://www.alienetworks.com/srtest.cfm
> http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/applications/xfce4-dict#speed-reader
> Do you know how to write?
> http://garbl.home.comcast.net/~garbl/stylemanual/e.htm#e-mail
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel