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nothingburger [2020/05/24 12:23] – [Return to Planet of the Apes?] revuskynothingburger [2020/05/25 17:07] – revusky
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   - When very minor changes to the code are made, patches that, by the principles of [[https://semver.org|Semantic Versioning]], would only justify a minor point-point release, like 0.7.1 to 0.7.2, they are represented as significant new development. One corollary of this (though this symptom may or may not be present) is that a nothingburger project frequently sports an excessively high version number.   - When very minor changes to the code are made, patches that, by the principles of [[https://semver.org|Semantic Versioning]], would only justify a minor point-point release, like 0.7.1 to 0.7.2, they are represented as significant new development. One corollary of this (though this symptom may or may not be present) is that a nothingburger project frequently sports an excessively high version number.
  
-One could surely list other important symptoms of //nothing-burger-ism//, but they kind of blend in and interact with one another. I think the above points I outline, the first three in particular, are key. Perhaps the first point, this kind of bizarre reverence for the existing codebase is the most reliable sign that a project has devolved into //nothingburgerism//jj. It is also the characteristic that I myself find the most unsettling, maybe even downright spooky.+One could surely list other important symptoms of //nothing-burger-ism//, but they kind of blend in and interact with one another. I think the above points I outline, the first three in particular, are key. Perhaps the first point, this kind of bizarre reverence for the existing codebase is the most reliable sign that a project has devolved into //nothingburgerism//. It is also the characteristic that I myself find the most unsettling, maybe even downright spooky.
  
 At this point, let me be clear about one thing: I do not mean to say that one should not have a certain amount of structure and organization in how one goes about things. Rather, I am talking about a situation where this is all taken to such lengths that it creates a quite mentally oppressive environment. Come to think of it, I am sure that, on occasion, this is a factor in the original author(s) losing interest and abandoning the project! Many things in this life are a question of balance, after all. Yes, a reasonable level of hygiene is a good idea, but what we are talking about here is something more akin to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive–compulsive_disorder|obsessive-compulsive disorder]]. People who suffer from OCD may wash their hands hundreds of times a day. They wash their hands and, a minute later, are obssessed with the idea that their hands are dirty, and feel compelled to wash their (quite clean) hands yet again. OCD, by the way, is a genuine mental illness and no laughing matter. By the same token, //nothingburgerism// is a psychosocial malaise, and also no joke. (Even if I do crack a few jokes when describing the situation...) At this point, let me be clear about one thing: I do not mean to say that one should not have a certain amount of structure and organization in how one goes about things. Rather, I am talking about a situation where this is all taken to such lengths that it creates a quite mentally oppressive environment. Come to think of it, I am sure that, on occasion, this is a factor in the original author(s) losing interest and abandoning the project! Many things in this life are a question of balance, after all. Yes, a reasonable level of hygiene is a good idea, but what we are talking about here is something more akin to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive–compulsive_disorder|obsessive-compulsive disorder]]. People who suffer from OCD may wash their hands hundreds of times a day. They wash their hands and, a minute later, are obssessed with the idea that their hands are dirty, and feel compelled to wash their (quite clean) hands yet again. OCD, by the way, is a genuine mental illness and no laughing matter. By the same token, //nothingburgerism// is a psychosocial malaise, and also no joke. (Even if I do crack a few jokes when describing the situation...)
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 As for my final point above, that the extreme overvaluation of minor patches will lead to the nothingburger project having an absurdly high version number, this is a frequent symptom, but not really a //sine qua non// either. However, we do observe it in the legacy JavaCC project, which is apparently gearing up for an 8.0 release. The fact of the matter is that, in its 17 years of open source history, that project has not had a level of forward evolution that would correspond to a single point release (0.8 to 0.9 say) by the approximate rules of Semantic Versioning outlined [[https://semver.org/|here]]. As for my final point above, that the extreme overvaluation of minor patches will lead to the nothingburger project having an absurdly high version number, this is a frequent symptom, but not really a //sine qua non// either. However, we do observe it in the legacy JavaCC project, which is apparently gearing up for an 8.0 release. The fact of the matter is that, in its 17 years of open source history, that project has not had a level of forward evolution that would correspond to a single point release (0.8 to 0.9 say) by the approximate rules of Semantic Versioning outlined [[https://semver.org/|here]].
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 +===== Think of an Army with no Soldiers =====
  
 I have no doubt that there are certain people who will jump at any opportunity to twist and misrepresent what I am saying here, so I feel I have to be very very clear about certain things. By no means am I saying here that the //only// thing anybody can do of any value in a software project is write code. In fact, it is frequently the case that the most value that can be added at a given point is by doing things other than coding. For example, most (pretty much all) open source projects are sorely in need of better documentation than what they have. I have no doubt that there are certain people who will jump at any opportunity to twist and misrepresent what I am saying here, so I feel I have to be very very clear about certain things. By no means am I saying here that the //only// thing anybody can do of any value in a software project is write code. In fact, it is frequently the case that the most value that can be added at a given point is by doing things other than coding. For example, most (pretty much all) open source projects are sorely in need of better documentation than what they have.