Hi,
Over this past week we (TGC) have been re-evaluating the way in which things are going to be handled from this point on. This relates to pretty much all facets of development and associated information. There are some significant changes coming, so.. here we go... (sorry for the use of caps, but I need you to make sure you read this correctly!)
1) Lee is working exclusively on FPS Creator at the moment, getting it ready for a trade show in Monte Carlo in the middle of June. There will be no deviation from this. HOWEVER upon his return, he and Mike will sit down and work on NOTHING BUT DBPro bug fixes for a limited period of time. No new functionality (other than in the debugger), just pure bug fixes. At the end of this development period we will release Upgrade 5.4. This process will _start_ on June 21st.
2) After 5.4 is released, Lee will return exclusively to FPS Creator. We have publisher deadlines to meet and a lot of work still to do, so this is unavoidable... but ...
... Mike will
remain on
DBPro Upgrades - not enhancement packs, not new functions - just pure bug fixing upgrades. As a company we have agreed that he will split his time
evenly between doing nothing but fixing bugs in DBPro and other direct revenue generating work. That means DBPro will be worked on every single day (depending on how he chooses to do it, perhaps 3 days on, 2 days off) but the net result is the same: frequent updates. Also remember - we've said it before and we'll say it again, but Lee working on FPS Creator
will also result in bug fixes in DBPro and optimisations to the compiler. It is an inevitable side effect of building such a massive application with DBPro technology. However you will no longer have to wait until FPSC is released to benefit from all of this.
3) Mike will have sole control over how often he releases the Upgrades and
BETAS of them. We are going to make every single beta for each Upgrade PUBLIC for anyone to download. The release rate of this is entirely up to Mike, but could be as frequent as he wishes (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc).
4) After a suitable burning-in period a beta will be turned into a Point Release for DBPro. I.e. Upgrade 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, etc. We will not release more than 1 point release per month - we feel it would be too confusing for our newer customers, but there is no limit on the number of point-release BETAs we will kick out the door. There is no set schedule between releases, it is as we (and you) are happy with them.
5) The Bug Report forum here is going to be the CENTRAL place where we collect (and fix) bugs from. If it's not reported in there, we don't and won't know about it. I will be making a few modifications to it as discussed on DBDN, but essentially it'll be the core area where bugs should go into and come out of fixed.
6) We are closing down DBDN. This has been discussed internally for months now and now the current members agree it is the best course of action. DBDN served its purpose well at the time, but our community is MUCH larger now and far more diverse so it's time to open things up. The net result of this is:
a) All of the developer diaries (Lee, Mike, Rich and Raveys new one) will now be PUBLIC - including all of the previous entries and all future ones. Lee and Mike both update their diary virtually daily, so it will give you an instant feeling as to what the hell is going on, as well as sneak shots of FPSC development and whatever Mike is doing to DBPro at the time. I'm pretty bad at updating my diary! but with increased activity here (see below re: book) I'll change this fact. Ravey will start a new diary also.
b) All of the DBDN showcase pictures will be merged with the Developer Network site here, so will be public. Simon will keep supplying these as and when he can.
c) All the beta versions of software we will release - will be public. Previous beta releases on DBDN will be removed.
d) We're still talking about how to handle the forum - the DBDNers like the fact you don't get spammed to death in there, but equally we don't want to promote segregation in the community forums any further. So a current plan is to have a board here for "Old Timer" people, i.e. those who have been around a while - anyone new to the forums will not be able to post, only to read. Those of you who've been here say 1 year + will have full write access (and those migrating from DBDN also). This idea is still being fleshed out and isn't set in stone.
7) We are completely overhauling the DBPro documentation and this is how: As a direct result of feedback from the first survey we realised there is an overwhelming need for a decent DBPro dedicated book. A real guts 'n glory affair that gives you EVERY single command, with complete proper working syntax, parameter counts, example code, descriptions and generally all the things a good reference manual should have.
We shortlisted a few co-authors to work with me, contacted 2 and the project is now very well underway and has been for a while now.
So how does this effect DBPro? After all, I said we're writing a book - so surely it'll cost money? Well - yes and no.
We soon found out that we could structure the book in such a way so that for every single command we had a core set of information. Imagine if you will the page flowing from top to bottom as such:
1. Command Name - Version number it was introduced in
2. Exact (and correct!) Syntax
3. Full arguments (if relevant) that actually explain what you should be passing to a command/function
4. Return value - fully explained
5. Source Code Example - yes, for EVERY single command
6. Description - a summary of what the command does and how you should use it.
7. Further Examples - extended source code examples, various options, etc.
8. Detailed Description - a comprehensive explanation of the command, what it does, how it works, theory behind it, etc.
9. "See Also" - links to other relevant commands.
While preparing the template I quickly realised that actually - what we had here was a new set of DBPro help files in the making AND a book.
So this is how it's going to go.. the DBPro help files are going to be recompiled into a fully indexed searchable CHM format and include all of the information listed above from 1 through to 6. The printed book will contain that plus all the juicy extra details 7 through to 9.
Using this technique it means the three of us are able to kill two birds with one (very large!) stone. At the end we'll have a comprehensive guide to DBPro AND a brand new set of help files that not only look the business, but really explain what the hell is going on. Needless to say they will be free of charge and included in all Updates from there on. There is no timescale for completion of the book, as you can appreciate it is a VERY large task - over 1117 commands to document infact, but progress is steady and constant.
So to summarise:
1) Worklogs/Diaries/Showcase will be open to all via the Dev Net site
2) Upgrade 5.4 released end of June, work starts June 21st on it.
3) On-going upgrade *betas* released as often as possible from then on, maybe daily, weekly, montly, whatever - its up to Mike - but you can read his diary to know the score
4) Point-release Upgrades every 1 to 2 months, but again depending on Mike.
5) Bug Report forum to be THE central place this all happens from.
6) New DBPro Help files as a result of the WIP printed book.
This is what is happening right now. We had been discussing all of the above internally as a team for a while, but the recent furore on the forums gave us the evidence we needed to actually kick this whole process into action - so, that is how it's going to be from June 21st onwards.
Cheers,
Rich
"I am not young enough to know everything."
- Oscar Wilde
