Disgruntled Paradigms, Inc. propaganda sheet
disgruntled: “in a state of sulky dissatisfaction”
paradigm: “an example or pattern that exists as the prevailing principle for a school of thought”
Who?
My name is Neil Santos. I’m the one primarily responsible for dpi. I’ve involved with computers for as far back as I can remember. I started dabbling in programming when I was high-school, and I’m still doing it, more than a decade later.
What?
Disgruntled Paradigms, Inc. is a “fictional company that creates real free software following basic tenets of good software engineering which most people seem to have forgotten about”, according to the project page.
The idea is sort of a poke at how a lot of free software projects these days are being (mis)managed. Before you get insulted, though, remember that this just a ha ha, only serious kind of joke. If you get insulted, it’s no use crying to anyone here about it.
The fact that I’m merely trying to poke fun at the expense of the other members of the free software community doesn’t mean that the problem is non-existent, or, that it’s not serious.
Several prominent people and/or groups have pointed out problems with the way we currently design and write software. To wit:
- Jamie Zawinski (of XEmacs fame) has labeled one aspect of the problem as the CADT model of programming.
- The c2 Wiki (the wiki) has a list of anti-patterns (ways of going from a problem to a bad solution.
- Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror has posts about anti-patterns and the software industry in general (he posts on a lot of topics, so you’ll probably have to comb through his site a bit).
When?
I first started dreaming about dpi back in high-school. I wanted to put up my own software shop, where people did the Right Thing™ the Right Way™. Lacking capital, credibility and experience, I decided to aim lower for now, and hence this virtual company.
Why?
Doing the Right Thing™ the Right Way™ is viewed by many as the Wrong Way™ of doing things. Many believe that Worse is Better.
Obviously, I disagree.
How?
I will concede that, in the frantic pace of the software industry, the Worse is Better approach seems desirable for most software shops; it might even be appropriate. Projects always seem to be marked ‘needed yesterday’, there’s always more code to be done than coders to do them, et endless cetera.
Free software projects, those that are in niche markets—which describes most free software projects—have little to no excuse to prefer the Wrong is Better approach. To do so signifies that the author(s)
- is too lazy to do the Right Thing™;
- doesn’t know any better; or
- believes that worse really is better.
It is not my intention to try and change anyone’s beliefs, nor to provoke an argument of any sort. I merely want to show that a free software project can do the Right Thing™ and still be a worthwhile endeavor.