New year's resolution: Have a 3rd attempt at CodeSnip v5

-

Where have we heard this before?

OK, it was way back in 2013 when I first decided to try to develop CodeSnip 5 - a quite radically different version of CodeSnip than version 4. It was code named parsnip, as in pa[r]scal codesnip - really! Along the way that morphed into CodeSnip pagoda (I can't remember why) and then floundered. 

In 2020 there was a partial reboot: pavilion. This was based on parsnip and was used to investigate one of two possible ways to strip the web service code out of CodeSnip before the services closed in June. It turned out it was quicker to revise CodeSnip 4, so pavilion got abandoned too.

Introducing CodeSnip Belvedere

And now, on 1st January 2022, I've just created a new belvedere branch off the CodeSnip 4.19.0 code tree to have yet another attempt at CodeSnip 5.

What makes me think I might succeed this time?

Well, I think the main reason the other attempts failed is that I tried to grow v5 from the a code base that goes all the way back to CodeSnip 1 in 2005. At 16 years old the code has been bludgeoned and battered into supporting four very different versions, so it's not exactly the tidiest and most coherent code you've ever seen. And that's probably where I stumbled - that mangled code is not easy change as radically as I need to for v5.

And then there's the fact that CodeSnip 4 really doesn't like compilers after Delphi XE - see CodeSnip Compiling & Source Code FAQ 11 if you want to know why.

So for belvedere I've decided to try to start from scratch. I'm using Delphi 11 Alexandria and FireMonkey [EDIT: VCL see this post]. Although belvedere has all the v4.19.0 code in it, I'm not going to use it by default. I'm starting development afresh in a new belvedere sub-directory and will only copy in the old code where it is suitable. The default position is that code will be new.

Will this approach succeed? I dunno. Progress will depend on my available time and enthusiasm.

New Year's Resolution - is that wise?

Hmm. Probably not. I don't usually make them.

But this year I have made two essentially contradictory resolutions. The first is this whole CodeSnip belvedere thing and the other is to play more guitar. Let's see if I can manage both.

More info & have your say

For details of what I'm planning see the new README attached to the belvedere branch on GitHub.

If you want to suggest anything then I've set up a CodeSnip 5 Belvedere discussion on GitHub where you can do just that.

Progress so far

Want to see how far I've got? About as not far as it's possible to be without actually doing nothing is how far. But, give me a chance, I only decided to do it today.

All there is so far in the belvedere branch is a .gitgnore file and README.md. There's also a blank Delphi 11 project - CodeSnip5.dpr - in the belvedere/src directory.

No forms? Nope - CodeSnip 4 uses a hierarchy of forms, which has proved to be one of the better design decisions, so I'm taking my time considering and how best to (re)design this for belvedere before adding any forms to the project.

Watch, as they say, this space. And now, I'm off to practise guitar.
If you celebrate it today, have a happy new year.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Released v2.2.0 of the Code Snippets Collection

-
Image
Finally, months after I meant to, I've released v2.2.0 of the DelphiDabbler Code Snippets Collection. This is a collection of snippets that can be loaded into CodeSnip program. To do so, download csdb-v2.2.0-data.zip from the GitHub release page . Unzip it somewhere on your system then run CodeSnip. Select the Install or Update DelphiDabbler Snippets Database  menu option and follow the wizard. If you would like to run tests on some of the snippets then download  csdb-v2.2.0-tests.zip  from the same place. Read the included read-me file for info about how to run the tests. Finally there's comprehensive documentation in  csdb-v2.2.0-docs.zip . In this release the main feature is the addition of a few routines to the Mathematics category. Specifically there are three IEEE conformant Pown routines and a couple of heavily overloaded summing functions. For details of these and other changes see the change log .
Read more

CodeSnip v4.23.0 Released

-
Image
Today I released an  update to CodeSnip  that makes two little changes: The marketing names have been removed from later Delphi versions (e.g. Athens & Rio) to save space in the UI if you have several versions of Delphi registered. So now instead of seeing Delphi 12 Athens you will see Delphi 12.x , for example. The built in REML markup language that can be used to format snippet descriptions and "Extra" text, now supports the ' character entity that gets replaced by a single quote when rendered. For the complete change log see here . Compiler name changes in v4.23.0 New REML character entity in v4.23.0
Read more

Never make new year's resolutions - dumping CodeSnip Belvedere

-
Image
Over 9 years I've had three attempts at creating CodeSnip 5. All have been very ambitious. The latest was CodeSnip Belvedere, rashly announced on new year's day this year. Now I never normally make new year's resolutions, and I should have stuck with that tradition! Of course Belvedere foundered - it was way too ambitious. Again. I was overwhelmed right from the start. Just look at the repo where there have been bugger all commits . So here's a new announcement I can stick by: Belvedere is dead, abandoned, gone. The idea to rebuild CodeSnip from the ground up was an attractive proposition, but it was way too much work. Right from the start I seemed to have an inkling I might have bitten off more than I could chew, because I even queried the wisdom of the new year's resolution in the announcement itself ! And that's what all the failed attempts to create the next release have in common: the plans for the new version were always too ambitious . Maybe I've le...
Read more