[RASMB] SEDNTERP 2.0

[John Philo]

RASMB,

Apparently my inadvertent post last Friday of what was intended as private
message to Tom Laue and his team working on the new version of SEDNTERP has
led some of you to mistakenly believe I do not support and endorse this
effort, and/or that I have major concerns about the quality and
functionality of the new version. Let me assure you that both are false (and
I will explain that more fully below). I also again apologize to all for my
stupid posting mistake and especially to Tom, Tucker, and Allan for
publically airing "inside the huddle" comments and language.

I strongly believe it is important to have this software tool modernized and
updated, and I'm 100% behind that effort, for multiple reasons:

(1) No new functionality has been added for a decade. Very significantly,
the approach used for the new version allows for new functions and
computations to be added by any user using scripts (Javascript in this
case), without needing to re-compile or even needing access to the source
code.
 
(2) The old user interface stinks (and yes I am mostly to blame for that). 
 
(3) The old code literally can no longer be supported. Microsoft obsoleted
that compiler more than 15 years ago, and it won't even run and compile
correctly on my own Windows Vista computer.  
 
(4) The new version can run on multiple platforms, and both as a web server
and a stand-alone desktop application.
 
 
Regarding functionality of the new version, first let me clarify that I
handed over the old code to Tom's team so they could verify that the
computations and other logic are done the same way in the new version, and I
am not aware of any bugs or issues in that regard.
 
Some of the concerns I raised in my Friday message were simply wrong, due to
my getting lost in insider details and a misunderstanding about whether the
new version can directly work with the old database format. (It can't, you
have to import your old databases to switch them to the new format.)
 
Inevitably the transition to the new version will turn up some bugs and
other issues. I do think the users need a straightforward way to communicate
bug reports or installation issues, but I see that has already been fixed.
 
I also believe it is important to try to make the new version fully
documented and easy to install, and that the installation ensures that you
don't accidentally overwrite your own database. The documentation currently
on the wiki is mostly for the old version, so in some cases it might be
misleading rather than helpful. In any event, my intent was to push for
those things getting a high priority.
 
Overall, probably nobody knows better than I what a big effort it took to
re-write the whole thing from scratch. The transition will of course take
some time and might hit a few bumps in the road, but we'll all be much
better off with a sustainable, extensible, multi-platform version. For sure
when Tom, David Hayes and myself started all this nearly 20 years ago none
of us had any idea SEDNTERP would be so widely used, nor did we give a
moments thought to needing to support it over the long haul. Many thanks to
Tom and BITC for taking on this project, and I am more than glad to step
aside for the next generation.
 
John
 
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