[fdo-internals] resignation from FDO PSC

[Traian Stanev]

Hi Haris,

The problem is not RFC minutia that can be discussed away in a heated mailing list thread. It's more strategic. Here are some details which perhaps will make it more clear.

Currently, there are two conflicting uses of FDO. One is as data import/export API, and the other is as runtime API on which to build vertical functionality (like rendering, analysis, etc). But:

* It is not a great import/export API, because it is not nearly as comprehensive as something like FME for example. Even GDAL/OGR supports more data sources than FDO.

* It is a poor runtime API, because:
    - it is extremely verbose -- it is not uncommon to reduce code size by a factor of 3 or 4 by switching to a well designed wrapper.
    - it is not designed for ultimate performance (virtual refcounting, thread safe refcounting, things that aren't exactly cheap)
    - it is error prone (very easy to accidentally leak memory)
    - different providers all have different capabilities, making it impossible to write coherent logic unless one makes assumptions about the source provider or capabilities.

I don't think it's fundamentally possible to have an API which is optimal for both uses at the same time, due to the wildly different requirements. My resignation simply reflected this lack of confidence in the FDO API.

Traian




-----Original Message-----
From: fdo-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:fdo-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Haris Kurtagic
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:40 AM
To: FDO Internals Mail List
Subject: Re: [fdo-internals] resignation from FDO PSC

Hi Traian,

I am sad that you have come to this point, you are great asset to our project.

I have been looking in public discussion on FDO lists and couldn't see
any "hot" debate about any issue. The most discussed issue I saw was
Romica and myself about join RFC.

It brings us to point which was said few times already that we would
need to discuss more on public lists no meter how much we agree or
not.

It is never too late for open debate and I would always love to hear
what you have to say.

Haris

On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 5:12 PM, Traian Stanev
<traian.stanev at autodesk.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am resigning from my FDO PSC membership position. Lately, I have had trouble reconciling my personal beliefs about changes to FDO versus the direction supported by my employer. Therefore I think it's best to remove the conflict of interest by giving up my vote. I would like to emphasize that this is entirely my own decision and I was not pressured into it.
>
> Thanks,
> Traian
> _______________________________________________
> fdo-internals mailing list
> fdo-internals at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/fdo-internals
>
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