[vtk-developers] Request for a gentler tone in commit message verbiage...

[David Cole]

The commit message here:

    https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk/commit/7247da0ecf23c2c52e90acc86dda2e2bbf33461a

claims there was some sort of problem with make_pair and double. What
exactly was the problem? With what exact version of MSVC? (I don't buy
that there's a general problem with make_pair and double...)

And then the follow on commit message:

    https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk/commit/e3d0653de443435533ebfb2db3fa6513e3b5c86b

seems a bit accusatory towards poor old closed-source MSVC.


This code compiles just fine for me with Visual Studio 2013:

    bool TestMakePair()
    {
        const double value = 0.0;
        vtkTextProperty *prop = NULL;

        std::pair<double, vtkTextProperty*> pairOne =
            std::make_pair(value, prop);

        return true;
    }

Of course, make_pair deduces its types from the supplied arguments, so
passing "NULL" as the second arg is not exactly well defined across
all OSes and compilers. Not sure why you would expect that.


Anyhow.... This email is simply a request to remove the disparaging
remarks about "Windows" and MSVC from the comments, and to be kinder
and gentler in future commit messages. Writing thoughtful explanatory
commit messages is nearly as important as writing the code for a
widely used public open source project.

Nobody likes dealing with "the other platforms" that they don't work
on daily, but we all love how VTK works awesomely on so many
platforms. It's worth the extra effort to get code just right so it
compiles cleanly everywhere, and commentary like this just turns me
off.


Thanks for listening,
David C.