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aarona
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Post by aarona »

I propose that we get the Wiki back up again. As we cannot retrieve the old data, we should start new with a better objective as to what the Wiki is to achieve.

I think the Wiki should be "the" Design Document as well as being a scratch pad for programmers. I don't believe this forum is necessarily appropriate if we have many programmers working on different pieces.

Issues which cannot be resolved or which need community consulations could then be brought back here to be raised as a meeting item or discussion point.
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Post by Steve »

I agree that this forum is bad for some things like that, although I'm not sure if a wiki is best for a DD. I wonder if we want a DD that is one fixed document, rather than something that needs editing regularly on a wiki.
I'm kinda torn between the two, I think we need both.

And whilst I'm on the subject, wouldn't a latex document be a more professional way of writing the DD, rather than a .doc?
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Post by aarona »

I agree, I think both ways would be best. One fixed document which serves as a basis of the core goals of the project, and the wiki, which includes how its implemented, whos working on what, and any potential issues which arise from following the DD.

I think someone mentioned that the DD should be something done on the fly and I kind of agree. If the DD is 100% complete then there would be no need to come back to it time after time, but if its not then it needs to be updated as programmers identify issues.

Yeah Latexeting it up would *look* more professional, but I'm more interested in content. If the person in charge of writing it is unable or unwilling to use Latex then so be it. (Another reason to go to wiki :wink: )
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Post by XeryusTC »

I don't think that a wiki would be good for the DD, everyone can just change everything. Ofcourse this can be solved by limiting access but you also have that in a .doc.
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Post by Steve »

I think someone mentioned that the DD should be something done on the fly and I kind of agree. If the DD is 100% complete then there would be no need to come back to it time after time, but if its not then it needs to be updated as programmers identify issues.
'On the fly' and updating from programmer's issues are very different things. On the fly suggests we start using it before it is finished, which is very bad design practice, at least unless you make sure certain aspects of it are completed before they are needed.
We will however want programmers to be able to update the DD after programming begins and problems are found. This is just common iteration which all software projects should make use of.
I don't think that a wiki would be good for the DD, everyone can just change everything.
I agree that we'd need some access rights. If we use MediaWiki, is anyone aware how we can make a certain section of the wiki editable only by a group or selection of people and the rest editable by everyone?

Yeah Latexeting it up would *look* more professional, but I'm more interested in content. If the person in charge of writing it is unable or unwilling to use Latex then so be it.
Ofcourse this can be solved by limiting access but you also have that in a .doc.
I've done two large software engineering projects over the past year. The last of these involved fully requirements gathering, design, implementation and testing. I can say from experience that Microsoft Word is awful for large documents, especially when multiple people are submitting work in bits for the same document. Things can look horrible, special things that Word uses can not work and this is ignoring the fact that not everyone has the latest version of Word.
I've used Latex all of once and I'm sure that will provide a better way of providing a consistent and useful design document. Sure, it involves a bit of know-how, but I think the result is worth the extra effort.
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Post by aarona »

Steve wrote:'On the fly' and updating from programmer's issues are very different things.
Yes I agree that we need a complete DD, but in my stupid way of explaining things I was trying to say that having a complete DD is difficult because its hard to know what problems we have until we run into them. I think you know what I'm getting at tho :wink:
Steve wrote:On the fly suggests we start using it before it is finished, which is very bad design practice, at least unless you make sure certain aspects of it are completed before they are needed.
Yes! Which is why I've done the following thread Design Document Comments
Steve wrote:I've used Latex all of once and I'm sure that will provide a better way of providing a consistent and useful design document. Sure, it involves a bit of know-how, but I think the result is worth the extra effort.
Should we discuss this at the next meeting? "Should we convert to latex, and if so, who should do it?" Either that or someone just does it :wink:

I think the wiki should be set-up regardless of its final purpose. Thats my 2c.
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Post by benji147460127 »

I am relatively experienced with LaTeX if anyone wants to provide textfiles.
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Post by aarona »

We are now going to use the wiki for our DD, still, if we ever get to a final version then there is no reason it can't be made then into a pdf or whatnot.

Topic locked, Wiki is and up and running (09112006).
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