Mike just posted what appears to be a
death sentence for the Groovy project, and it was a very sad read for me
because while I like Groovy so much, I can’t do anything else but agree with his
assessment.
First of all, please note that Mike put money where his mouth is: since
his
previous rant on Groovy about a month ago, he has been very active on the
Groovy mailing-list and he has tried hard to piece together a decent set of
documentation for Groovy Classic. I suppose that his post today is the
observation that this effort failed and the confirmation of his worst fears
about the future of Groovy.
But you know what, James? There is still hope. There is one very
simple way you can prove Mike and countless other disillusioned Groovy fans
wrong about their fears:
Announce a date by which you will ship Groovy 1.0
It’s that simple. Really. Everything else will fall into place.
Once you have a ship date, you will start looking at your work on Groovy very
differently. Everything will become a matter of compromises between the
importance of the feature and the necessity to hit the deadline. The
roadmap will also appear to you much more clearly, starting backwards:
plan a beta one month before the deadline, an alpha two months before, a few
milestones here and there (not indispensable but I’ve found that milestones keep
you honest and give you a good idea of your velocity). You will also be to
make the best use of the various volunteers who offer their help.
Alright James, it’s your turn now. Pick a date. Any date.
Groovy deserves it.