Re: A private answer to Dave has been bounced

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-10-11 07:40:20

[Andrey, you might want to look at
http://www.spamcop.net/w3m?action=checkblock&ip=217.144.68.1 and see
if you can address it]

Andrey Melnikov <melnikov_at_[hidden]> writes:

> David Abrahams wrote:
>> Hi Andrey,
>> 
>> I am convinced we can't get the right documentation just by pushing
>> around bits of the current ones. I have committed to Vladimir that I
>> would rewrite the BBv2 docs from scratch (incorporating bits of the
>> current docs as necessary), on two conditions:
>> 
>> 1. I get your partnership
>> 
>> 2. He explains everything to us so that we can do a good job
>> 
>> So, what do you say?
>> 
>
> I'm glad to hear from you offlist. As you can see, I didn't post to the
> list for the last 2 weeks. I was busy with my daily job. Fortunately,
> this period of tight deadlines finished yesterday, so your message
> arrived in time.

Great!

> So I totally missed the whole discussion regarding the
> documentation,

There wasn't much discussion on-list anyway.

> and didn't review the msvc.jam patches by Alexey Pakhunov.
>
> Now I'm free and ready to help you. Unfortunately, I'm a lazy person
> that cannot work without external push, so you'll have to be the
> pusher :) 

Then we have a problem. I am also lazy :)

> I'd like to have a schedule and deadlines. We'll establish
> them together and will both try to follow them.

Sounds good. Maybe we can push one another?

> I agree that we cannot get the right documentation by patching the
> existing one. So, as the first step, I'd like to create an outline
> of the new documentation layout, and document the rationale for
> it. 

Hooray!!!

It's wonderful to hear that you think an outline should be a priority.
I would like you to take a first stab at it. I'm much better at
criticizing something that exists than at starting it myself ;-)

> We will use this rationale document as a guide for further writings.
>
> Regarding the point 2, I don't think that it's possible to learn BBv2
> completely in a short term. 

If by "learn" you mean "understand the implementation," then I agree.
Otherwise, I think it should be possible to learn enough to tell
people how to use it.

> I think that even without this kind of knowledge we are still able
> to create much better introductory documentation than we have now.

Yep.

> Personally, I hate such approach but I don't see any alternative
> ways to go for now. Let's focus on the basic documentation first.

Sounds good.

Do you have IM capability? If so, would you mind posting your IM
identification?

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com