Now I know how parents feel on the first day of kindergarten

[kickaha]

Tonight I cleaned up the code, wrote some basic bootstrapping docs, and made available on the SVN server back at UNC... my dissertation code. Another student wants to hack on it and see where he can take it. Good luck, bud, you're going to need it. It's somewhere between 25 and 30 kLOC of dense Python code, and a few dozen XML files against a custom schema with some support XSLTs. All thoroughly documented, of *course*. *whistles tunelessly*

Weird feeling though - someone else is going to take my beloved mindchild out, and play with it. Strange feeling.

Actually, I take that back, this isn't like the first day of kindergarten, this is like being a parent on prom night. :}

Comments

[arthane.livejournal.com]

Did you remind your classes to keep their members private?

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm not so concerned that they keep them private, as long as they use proper Wrappers.

[arthane.livejournal.com]

Don't want 'em to spawn a new process, after all...

[kimokeane.livejournal.com]

So, you just distributed patented software for free? Dare I ask if you-know-who was informed or consulted? ;)

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

LOL No, no, this is all done under the strict auspices of the co-inventor. :)

[kimokeane.livejournal.com]

Text being what it is, I can't tell if this is sarcasm or straight-up, and of course it's no longer my direct problem, but this really is an issue that should be considered in concert with OTD. At the very, very least, those downloading it should only be able to do so if they first register (i.e. provide you with tracking information) and sign and return (or otherwise electronically agree to) an end-user license. Otherwise there really wasn't much point to spending on the patent application. Further, if a company is interested in licensing it, they're almost certainly going to be concerned about paying for something they could just download from the site for free.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Agreed. No, I really should have been more clear: another student of Stotts' is interested in extending some of the work, finishing out a rough spot I left. Stotts will be supervising, the SVN server is hosted at the CS dept, only authorized users have any access, and yes, I'll make sure he gets the student on-board with OTD as well. Good point. :)

[franktheavenger.livejournal.com]

Oh of course the documentation is the last thing you do. Damn programmers! :p

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Heh. Actually, there's quite a bit of non-trivial comment in there, about another 10kLOC or so. I just realized when I was getting it bundled up that I hadn't written any docs on how to install it, set it up, and get it working. I mean, there was just one installation...

[franktheavenger.livejournal.com]

Like I said, damn programmers. :p

[badger.livejournal.com]

All thoroughly documented, of *course*. *whistles tunelessly*

Sigh. :)

Documentation

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Damn, _two_ folks beat me to it.

Oh, well. That's what I get for living on the Correct Coast.

Q: Why don't programmers document their code?
A: Job security.

I'm not sure that's a joke. :)

Re: Documentation

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

It's not. Not at all. :P

If only there were some way of extracting the semantic meaning of code...

Re: Documentation

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

You know, my dad never talked to me about drugs, or smoking, or the birds and the bees. His talk on alcohol, delivered once when I was sixteen, was: "If you really feel like you need to drink, there is beer in the fridge. Don't take it outside the house, and your friends are not allowed to have any." (I suspect he was thinking specifically of _you_, by the way. :) )

But from the time I was about eight, I heard regularly about the importance of proper documentation of one's code, from flowchart and pseudocode through code comments and accompanying whitepapers. In specific and, as it would turn out, useful detail. I was the only third-grader in my school who had his own flowcharting template, let alone the skills to use one.

Doesn't *every* parent have that talk with their kids?