Looking forward for EcliopseCon 2011

Now that Chris Aniszczyk and all his fellow program committee members have forced us to submit our ideas for the program of the next EclipseCon, I cannot help wonder..

Whether we will see the return of the chocolate fountain?

By Boris Bokowski

Whether the bar will be just as crowded as last year?

By Anne Jacko

What will ruin the night this time?

By Anne Jacko

The importance of a clear description for bug 8009

For the nth time bug 8009 "Split File Editor" is discussed - n being rather large... This never-ending story is one of my favorite pass times when it comes to following Eclipse bugs... I really only have one wish: we need some new and fresh comments.

Well... lately, there have been some development in the comments, as already described by Holger Voormann, a bounty has now been started. In my book, the people behind the bounty now only need three things: a clear description, sufficient funds and a convinced committer. Will that happen? I think not.

In order to ask somebody to create a patch, the bounty givers/providers (?) must agree on a clear description of the problem and the wanted solution. Looking quickly through the 146 (!!) comments, I have not found a clear description of the wanted solution - actually I have found many different vague descriptions -, so one must wonder: does the current bounty givers have a common consensus for the wanted solution? If that is not the case, I can only guess that some of the people are going to be rather disappointed when they see a solution...

Most of the committers of the platform seems to agree, that the any implementation of this bug is going to be non-trivial. Thus, one must expect that the bounty for the bug must be relatively large - unless somebody goes the for the bounty just for the fame. But it is not enough to create a patch for the bug: as the patch is going to be relatively large, all sorts of committer rules are going to be in effect. Remember that somebody will have to maintain the patch afterwards. I.e. one of the existing committers for the platform must accept the provided patch as his/hers own and maintain it ever after. (Admitted, here I take it for granted that the bounty givers are not going to collect enough funds to pay for the continued maintenance of the solution... not an unreasonable assumption, I think).

I make my living by developing or help developing Eclipse RCP applications. So as a consumer of the Eclipse sources, I really, really don't want anything new in the platform unless all of the current committers can vouch for the solution. The platform has to be rock solid, otherwise we cannot base mission critical application on top of the sources. (Yes, I know that this basically means the development of the platform is almost none as the current code base is so old and complicated, but... that is exactly only of the aims of the e4 project, right?)

So... summa-sumarum: 1) you need a clear description of the problem, 2) you need funds and 3) you need to convince an existing committer that your solution is sound and good...

I can see 2) happen, I think 1) is going to be hard and 3) is going to be nearly impossible!

Running is good...

...between the fine meals and many interesting talks... and the plenty beers in the evening.

I always try to attend the different runs that usually are part of all the technical conferences including Eclipse Summit Europe and EclipseCon. Not only because, you need them after long - and often interesting - talks in the evening - possibly with a few beer - but more so because the runs are very good chances of meeting people you would not necessarily talk with otherwise.

Today it was easy 5 km through some of the trails around the hotel. As Ludwigsburg is build on a small hill, it was quite interesting at times.

So a big thanks to our big leader, Chris Aniszczyk, for hosting the runs. And come and join the run tomorrow at 7:00 in the hall of the Nestor Hotel..

Don't forget your running shoes... if you feel blue

For those of you that feel a little run in the morning is a good cure for any blues - or simply fear that all the hard late work will warrant it - there will be a short 5-6 km tun in the morning starting from the entrance of Hotel Nestor.

Just be there by 7:20 and we will take a slow scroll around the parks of the center of Ludwigsburg. Any ideas for good routes will be much appreciated.

See you Tuesday morning!

ESE '08: Will there be any organized runs this year?

I have been looking for some time now, but as I cannot find anything, I have to ask: Will there be any organized runs this year at Eclipse Summit Europe?

With all the good food and the many sessions where we all sit and listen, a little run or two would do us all good.

Shaping up for the Autumn :-)

Autumn is comming and with that many of us will be busy with training, mentoring and whatever we do for a living.

In order to get in shape for the Autumn, we participated in the largest fun run the DHL Relay in Copenhagen. 21000 teams with 5 runners each running 5 km in the middle of Copenhagen! The relay takes place over 5 days and just about every company in the Copenhagen area participates. Some with just one team and some with several hundred teams.

Most of the teams, ours included, combine the running with a good dinner afterwards.

The next runs are in 2 weeks (10 km) and in four weeks (13 km)...

And then we hope to be in shape for whatever the Autumns brings...

I'm pro-cloning - sort of

Begin at EclipseCon is hard work! To follow all the tracks I would like to, I will have to clone myself a couple of times!

At any one time there are at least 1-2 tracks with good serious talks on subjects I find interesting, there are plenty of people I would like to talk with, lots of coffee I need to drink, quite a few exhibits I would like to visit.... While I'm at it, I could use a couple of me's to relax while the others work, so I'm not to tired in the evening, when the official program is over and we all begin on the more informal networking....