[Zope3-dev] Introduction and very-high-level question

[Dave Harris]

Hi,

You may be wondering about the Windows-based miscreant who keeps posting 
test failure messages. It's about time I introduced myself.

I'm a self-employed independent contractor/consultant, in business for 
myself since 1989. Based in Richardson, TX for the last 17 years, I previous 
worked for Harris Corp (no relation) in Tysons Corner and Manhattan, Figgie 
Intl in Cleveland, and lots of other Mid-Western venues like Detroit, 
Columbus,  and Milwaukee. I'm a Michigan-born Buckeye ('76) (def: buckeye - 
a hairless nut of no commercial value.)

For the past 7 years, I've been the software development manager for a small 
(75 employee) corporation. The primary product and service is turnkey 
systems for agricultural and industrial equipment dealers. We maintain 1.5 
million lines of legacy C code, written around SCO Openserver and Faircom's 
ctree product.

And now a comment/question. As I stumble around the construction site known 
as Zope3, I'm constantly flummoxed by the number of places I have to look to 
find something. I'm in the early stages of forming a mental map (which seems 
to have 'lots of twisty little passages, all alike'), so I realize that the 
'clicking' point is still to come. But much of what I see reminds me of the 
C++/Java/Delphi object-oriented inheritance trap where enlightenment arrives 
only when you have understood the base-base-base class. Rhetorically 
speaking - is this complexity the price to be paid for flexibility?

Practically speaking, is the grand design of Zope3 meeting 
everybody's/somebody's expectations? Will it be sprouting still further 
offshoots or is it due for a pruning? The recent retirement of zope/context 
makes me wonder how much of the code base is experimental and/or deadwood. 
I'm not looking for arguments or justifications - I really wouldn't be able 
to understand most of it right now. I'd simply like to get a feel for the 
entropy level - will Zope3 be getting bigger or smaller?

As always, thanks for your patience,
Dave Harris

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