SN Printing Under WIN/NT

[Berek]

See imbedded comments below [smile].

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mo DeJong" <mdejong@cygnus.com>
To: <sourcenav@sources.redhat.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 16:28
Subject: Re: SN Printing Under WIN/NT


> On Thu, 5 Oct 2000, Berek wrote:
>
> > > You must be joking. I have seen plenty of "released" software products
> > > that a much much worse than SN. While I would agree with you that
> > > the parsers need some serious reworking, saying SN in the worst
> > > product in 34 years is really a stretch. At least it does not
> > > core dump :)
> >
> > Sorry...I stand by my statement. We're not talking about frivilous or
> > insignificant bugs, we're talking about basic functionality: SN does not
> > work as advertized for C++. Nor can it print xref charts under Windows
NT
> > for, apparently, both C and C++.
> >
> > And...it does core dump, at least dbimp croaks on an address violation
when
> > parsing large projects.
>
> Perhaps you missed the smiley face on that sentence.
>
> > Yes, I did report this problem. No, it's not a
> > parsing error, it's a boundary/threshhold problem. The large project I
refer
> >  to contains over 560,000 lines of code. It's comprised of much smaller
> > projects, each of which parses correctly when done separately (dbimp
doesn't
> > croak). When I create a new project consisting of two or more of these
> > smaller projects, dbimp "goes south".
>
> Without a way to reproduce the error, it is unlikely we are going
> to be able to fix it.

Right. I wish I could send you my code base, but Concord Comm. would have
some serious objections [smile].

> > > I hear what you are saying. This issue does need to get solved,
> > > and we are looking for help to get the right solution in place.
> > > The trick here is that our business is customer driven. We are
> > > going to have a hard time justifying 3 to 4 months of work on
> > > the C++ parser if we do not have a customer that is paying for it.
> >
> > You mean to tell me that there aren't enough customers in the United
States
> > using C++ to justify fixing very basic, fundamental flaws in the C++
parser?
> > (Not to mention fixing bugs with printing xref and hierarchy charts.)
>
> Perhaps you misunderstand the meaning of "customer" in this context.
> We currently have actual customers that are paying us to work
> a number of projects that include Source-Navigator. This set
> of folks is much smaller than the sum of all the C++ users
> in the U.S.

I understand. But, if the C++ parser were cleaned up, you'd have a lot more
C++ customers and a lot more revenue than you do now.

>
> > Have you done a market survey yet? I find it hard to believe that
managememt
> > at Red Hat thinks the PERL market is larger than C++. My feeling is that
any
> > survey is going to show (in decreasing order of use): COBOL, std C, C++,
all
> > others.
>
> I am not sure why you are so worked up about Perl. A Perl parser
> was talked about in the context of things that people on the net
> might want to donate. If you are so interested in C++ support,
> why don't you champion the cause of writing a new C++ parser
> for Source-Navigator? It sounds as though you are uninterested
> in allocating any capital resources to a new parser, so how
> about organizing others to help you achieve your goal?

There you go again with the "if you don't like the situation, fix it
yourself" attitude [smile]. Let me put it a little more bluntly: I work 60
plus hours/week at my job at Concord. The weekends (when I have both Sat and
Sun off) I devote to chores around the house/yard and spending a few minutes
here and there with my wife and kids (once in a great while I even manage to
sneak in a hug or two). I spend my "spare time" coming up to speed in such
things as Java, web page development, and papers on protocols and networking
(work-related). I have to do this to stay current and remain competitive.
Now, that having been said, how much time do you think I can devote to
fixing SN bugs [smile]? This is not my job, it's your job. BTW, my four
Golden Retrievers and two cats don't seem to know me anymore. I can't
remember the last time I was able to take the dogs for a walk.

I have a proposition for you. You dedicate some of your free time to my
wife, kids, dogs and cats, and I'll use the time saved to fix SN bugs. Deal
[grin]?

Later
-Steve Dow

> cheers
> Mo DeJong
> Red Hat Inc
>