Re: [AD] Focusing on priorities and the philosophy behind our constributions (was: malloc)

[Evert Glebbeek <eglebbk@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> Certainly. At some point I calculated that all the patches I had
> contributed during the last two years, if condensed in an 8-hour
> a day job, would have taken just one week and a half.  Isn't that
> frustrating and depressing?

In a way ;)
It's pretty much the same with everything I do though:
if I'd spend every hour of the day over the past year doing research, my 
research would have gone a lot faster than it has with only spending part 
of the day on it.
If I'd spend all my time writing stories I might actually have finished 
one.
If I'd spend all my time reading books I might actually have finished my 
list.
If I'd spend all my time socialising I might have seen a lot more movies, 
been to many more concerts and plays and seen the inside of much more 
bars.
And if I'd spend all my time working on Allegro (assuming I'd master the 
skills needed) I would get a lot more done on it.

Unfortunately, all these things have to share slices of my 24-hour days - 
and I imagine the same for everyone of us. But I guess that was your point 
anyway.

> If you contribute for Allegro, do it for yourself and nobody else. If
> you start thinking about Allegro being some kind of force/army
> which has to crush some other invisible enemy, and your patch is
> required for that goal, you are just nuts.

Not only that, I think it ultimately leads to less productivity because it 
means you need to live up to some arbitrary and ill-defined standard.

> Evert Glebbeek, what keeps you striving to correct bugs and
> release new versions?

Having fun. I actually like polishing things and making them work smoothly 
(and, god forbid, writing documentation for things because it's actually 
less work than writing the functions or programmes themselves).

> Evert, you do this
> for the fame and women that throw themselves in your arms whenever
> you step in a pub and mention you are THE dictator?

Obviously no, but along those lines, I do have a somewhat amusing anecdote: 
a friend of mine once tried to impress a common girl friend on my behalf 
(we were both somewhat vocal on being single) with that piece of 
information on a party. It was all in good fun and we could all laugh over 
it, but there: it could have been a reason. ;)

> Tell me. Tell everybody. Why are you here? What keeps you here? What
> is your plan?  Just stop developing and express yourself. We need
> a hug. Lets make a group hug and explain why we are wasting time
> here instead of enjoying some time with our families.

Ehm... well, actually, I've spend less time doing Allegro-things than doing 
social-things lately. Anyway, why I'm here is because I have fun doing 
this. When it's no longer fun... well, I could be gone. *hugs everyone 
anyway*
For 4.2, I did feel a bit of a responsibility to `get it out'. Now that 
that's done, I have to say I feel a bit less responsible for what happens 
from now on...

Evert