[CMake] CMake Feature list

[Brandon Van Every]

On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 12:32 PM, Bill Hoffman
<bill.hoffman at kitware.com> wrote:
> Brandon Van Every wrote:
>  > On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 9:59 AM, Bill Hoffman <bill.hoffman at kitware.com> wrote:
>  >>  http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/Really_Cool_CMake_Features
>  >
>  > I think the feature list is already adequate as a
>  > pitch.  It can be improved, but by putting it front and center in
>  > people's minds, it is likely to improve faster.
>  >
>  Actually, I made it a bit obscure because I was hoping to flesh it out
>  before putting it at the top of the wiki.   I guess the list is OK as
>  is.

It is, considering the quality of the rest of the wiki.

> The problem is there are so many little things that cmake does
>  automatically that actually have lots of work behind them that people
>  don't realize.

I do agree that getting people to focus on what the *build tool* does,
rather than all the bitching and moaning about syntax corner cases, is
a good strategy.  The syntax corner cases are a real problem, and they
do need good documentation to resolve the problem.  But people
shopping for build tools focus on them way too much.  They know
languages and they don't know build systems.  They don't have that
much of an idea what they're gonna need out of a build tool, or how
far ahead CMake is compared to other tools.

> Eventually, I will move the list or parts of it from the
>  wiki to the main web page.

Better to just keep the list where it is, and copy the best points to
the main web page.  On a main web page, you have limited time to make
your pitch.  The pitch shouldn't be "everything and the kitchen sink."
 Or if you are going to do a "kitchen sink" feature comparo, it should
be in a professional looking table of columns with bullets and
checkboxes and nice managerial looking stuff.

Another presentation format is "author's top 10 cool features," such
as in this VS .NET article:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/02/10/NETTopTen/default.aspx
But that would imply an ecology of people writing articles about CMake
on a regular basis.

>  Another reason we might not want it at the
>  top yet is that I am listing CVS  features as well as 2.4 stuff.

Be a good marketer.  List them anyways.  You're pretty close to CMake
2.6, you're not exactly fleecing people to be doing so.  How are they
gonna know?  Let 'em download it and do an eval.  If they come up
short and squawk on the mailing list, that's perfect, you can jump to
their rescue.  If they come up short and never touch the mailing list,
that's a different problem.  One that I don't think is solved by any
number of feature lists.


Cheers,
Brandon Van Every