Re: [Wikitech-l] Re: Wikitech-l Digest, Vol 30, Issue 2

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Moin, On Monday 02 January 2006 20:55, Ray Saintonge wrote: [snipalot] As a programmer, I have to disagree. This code can only be called obscene or worse things. A frozen, glittering turd is still a turd, even though you use it for-whatever because you got nothing else handy. (Read: This doesn't imply anything about the people using these templates except that instead of working towards a real solution they use (albeit clever, one must admit) hacks. Read whatever you want into that :-) So, we either throw these templates out and replace them with something simpler something mere mortals can understand, or we risk a maintance nightmare. If the template system isn't sufficient enough to that now, that means: * people overengeneer things, and/or do things that wikipedia isn't meant to provide (read: E.g. it is a Enceclopedia, not a programming language with a Web-IDE and embedded documentation system tacked on, nor a database where you can represent arbitrarily complex data structures) * OR, the software behind the scenes need to be improved to provide what people want It is usualy a combination of the two, but by tackling stuff like the aforemention template code on top of the system you do not solve the underlying problem - instead, you create new issues like maintainance, security, stability etc). The complexity of wikipedia is reaching enourmous levels and anyone unfamiliar with it will be quickly lost. I wouldn't even know which templates to use or even exist, less alone be able to find my self in a sea of recursive, conditional templates with a programming logic behind them. So, I have to repeat myself: * Wikipedia is an enceclopedia. It is not meant to be a database. * Mixing code and data is the number #1 of all-times No-Nos. My 0.02€. Happy new Year to all, btw, Tels - -- Signed on Mon Jan 2 21:22:18 2006 with key 0x93B84C15. Visit my photo gallery at http://bloodgate.com/photos/ PGP key on http://bloodgate.com/tels.asc or per email. "I can imagine what you're thinking though: this girl keeps her brains in her backside! But actually only the more primitive parts of my brain are in my butt. The more interesting parts are kept in a PC - my spinal cord is actually an RS232 lead!" - Lucy, the OrangUtan Robot Girl http://tinyurl.com/3fv6z