On Jan 28, 2007, at 20:03, Les Mikesell wrote:
>
>> i.e. The difficulty some new SVN users seem to have is in
>> stubbornly insisting on misusing the tool because one can't quite
>> accept that it offers a slightly different solution (screws) to
>> the same problem (affixing things). And this it does with aplomb,
>> but it does require stepping back and not "What am I trying to
>> accomplish?" without presupposing a solution.
>
> You lost me on this one. Are you suggesting that he shouldn't use
> svn for this task, or that there is some yet unmentioned way to do
> what he wants with svn.
/* Well, I guess I really fell on my face with that attempt at
analogy. <grin type="sheepish"/>. */
I'm suggesting that he might find a solution to his needs that worked
*with* subversion instead of against it, if he were able to step back
an consider his goal.
When I say "goal" here, I'm speaking of something higher-level than
"I want to check out a single file". That's a tactic: presumably a
habit grown from a tool that made checking out single files easier
while making other things harder. Perhaps the higher-level goal can
be attained in another way that is more naturally supported by the
abstractions subversion provides.
(To close my utterly unsuccessful analogy: When handed a screwdriver
instead of the hammer you're used to, you might as well try to learn
to use Screws. You might even find you like them better than your
bent old nails, but only if you give them a chance.)
In any event, I have at times made my time with subversion more
difficult than it had to be because I've not modeled my problem in a
way that's amenable to the mechanisms svn provides. I try to step
back, and reconsider what I'm really attempting to accomplish as
opposed to how experience with other tools leads me to I imagine I'll
accomplish it. This has lead me to more natural solutions. Not
always, but often.
// Ben
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Received on Sun Jan 28 22:06:52 2007