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Matt Raible is a Web Developer and Java Champion. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

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Over 10 years ago, I wrote my first blog post. Since then, I've authored books, had kids, traveled the world, found Trish and blogged about it all.

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Does becoming a committer hurt?

I've recently been offered the opportunity to become a committer on one of the open source web frameworks I often talk about. From a professional and career standpoint, I'd be a fool to turn it down. My clients would benefit and it would look good on my resume. However, I'm wondering if it would hurt how folks perceive me when I talk about web frameworks?

Personally, I don't think it would change my views. Instead, it would probably eliminate my complaining about said framework because its developers would say "If you have a problem with that - fix it!" What do you think - if I were to become a committer on one of Java Web Framework projects, would you still think I'm agnostic when I talk about Java (or other open source) web frameworks? Of course, it's possible you don't think I'm agnostic now, so maybe I'm worried for no reason.

Posted in Java at Sep 13 2007, 02:14:01 AM MDT 23 Comments

Comments:

Go for it matt ! You may finish be a committer on all major web frameworks ! :)

Posted by opensourcereader on September 13, 2007 at 08:50 AM MDT #

It only helps. I guess you would have more insight about this particular framework, then probably can compare with the other frameworks a lot better.

Posted by Muthu Ramadoss on September 13, 2007 at 09:09 AM MDT #

Naturally you are going to be spending more time on said framework, working on it day to day will allow you to become more familiar with it. This alone will mean that you will naturally favour it over time?

However I for one have always read your material and then made my own opinion, for me if I find you favouring said application i would not accept that without trial and error for my self?.

On another note, you have excellent experience across many web frameworks, there are features you like and hate in many. This could be a good chance to make one great framework based on your indepth experience.

I think its a great idea and I will keep a close eye on said framework when you join.

Posted by reddeagle on September 13, 2007 at 10:07 AM MDT #

Congratulations, Matt, whatever framework it is!

It is a great opportunity for learning and you'll surely get a lot of great satisfactions, so don't turn it down!

Moreover, I think that being involved in a project doesn't mean to lose your own right thinking in behalf of the project you're working on, so don't worry ... and best wishes ;)

Posted by Sergio Bossa on September 13, 2007 at 10:34 AM MDT #

I'd go for it. I think you're professional enough to be unbiased, but you will probably need to put a disclaimer on relevant posts, e.g. "by the way, I'm a committer on ..." to ensure that there is no confusion. Congratulations btw!! Would you care to share how you got offered this opportunity?

Posted by Dave on September 13, 2007 at 10:34 AM MDT #

Ok, tell us which one :-) I think it is possible for you to remain objective in your writings, and we can all form our own opinions. But anyone with experienced across a number of web frameworks is a great addition to the team (for any framework project).

Posted by Lee on September 13, 2007 at 10:36 AM MDT #

Of course people will assume you're not objective when it comes to evaluating web frameworks if you start committing to one of them.

Posted by Kevin on September 13, 2007 at 11:34 AM MDT #

Forget career, clients etc and ask yourself do you have the time and do you want to work on that framework?

Posted by Niall on September 13, 2007 at 12:01 PM MDT #

I think the only way out of this ethical quandary is to become a comitter on all of the open source java frameworks. There's only, like 2^235 of them, right?

Posted by Tim Howland on September 13, 2007 at 12:21 PM MDT #

I bet it's either S2 or Stripes. Right? Right?

Posted by Koral on September 13, 2007 at 12:49 PM MDT #

funny that, with all appfuse releases, you're still concern about your resume :-p to me appfuse has much more impact/potential than anything else. To have a project structure up and running with almost any web frameworks, in less than 15 minutes, this is what my clients like to see.

Posted by Christian Gosselin on September 13, 2007 at 12:51 PM MDT #

The answer seems simple - do you think you'll enjoy working on the project?

To be honest, I think I'd be <em>more</em> skeptical of your opinions if I didn't think you were biased. That would indicate that you don't know enough about the frameworks to like the style of any particular library enough or are just too timid to make choices.

Of course - there is always the financial risk in wondering how your community will react, but no guts no glory right?

Posted by Jesse Kuhnert on September 13, 2007 at 01:39 PM MDT #

For the people like me who have been using appfuse and reading your blog for a long time, I dont think there would be any problem. Hey it's almost as if I knew you ;-) But in time of course people are going to tell you you're not agnostic in your judgement. I cant remember the number of times I've read on tss 'by the way xxx works for wicket so he's biaised...'. Like Jessy pointed out, your opinions on web frameworks up to know have always been biaised, and thats why we like em! But whats make them really interesting is the fact that you are just a regular user like most of us out here. I think it wont be the same again. You have to weigh you freedom of comments today with the fact that this is a great opportunity to bring all your experience and the features you'd like to see to that framework. That is a toughy!!! Good luck in your choice. Arthur

Posted by Arthur Clement on September 13, 2007 at 01:59 PM MDT #

No one is completely unbiased. I rarely agree with your opinions on web frameworks anyway. So what would change? ;)

Posted by Gregg Bolinger on September 13, 2007 at 02:14 PM MDT #

Go for it. I agree with a lot of criticism you have about the various frameworks out there, so at least one of them will definitely be getting better. I just hope it's not Tapestry.

Posted by Maarten on September 13, 2007 at 03:43 PM MDT #

I'd be curious why you want to be a committer -- do you like it but it's currently too broken to be useful? Just useful for the resume? Are you bored and just want to see what it's like? Motivation is always helpful. If you *want* to be framework agnostic, and don't see any given one as blowing away the others, I would recommend trying to be a committer on more than one. Or, if you want one to succeed because you think it can and should be the one 80% of the population should be using, then who cares about the other frameworks anymore and why waste your breath (er, fingers?) writing about them? If you ask me it's time to consolidate down to fewer frameworks and don't talk about the others anymore, but that's just me. If a framework hasn't cracked the top 5 within a year or two, it should die and die quickly.

Posted by gerryg on September 13, 2007 at 03:50 PM MDT #

As long as you make the framework piss excellence (Thanks Ricky Bobby)..

Do you feel this framework would be the leader in java land or is just being a committer what you are after?

Say goodbye to all credibility on your opinions, everything you post will be flamed that you are not objective anymore, you will spend more time defending yourself than with constructive dialog

Who is going to have an unobjective person speak at their conference on the top web frameworks if they actually have a vested interest in one of them.

You will have to create a new power point :( , but the silver lining is that I think that is the longest I have ever seen anyone rehash the same thing and have so many people drooling for it, be proud!! ; ).

Posted by cmh on September 13, 2007 at 05:31 PM MDT #

Of course you should take it up. I think it helps to muddle with the internal organs of a framework and come to terms with it's shortcoming, just because you could see so much more of how it was arrived at. Yes, it does hurt when being a committer, it kinda hurts your credibility when you need to take a stand and voice/compare the different one out there; hey what the heck, then why not just get involved in as much of the top 3 popular web-framework n be agnostically neutral (from a statistical point of view). I would take any chance to even have this rare opportunity to be invited to be a committer. The scene here in my community is that not much people are that actively involved.....it would be a good resume brush-up definitely.

Posted by YS on September 14, 2007 at 02:35 AM MDT #

It's a great idea. You probably know enough about all competing popular java frameworks out there. Being a committer on a few of them could possibly make you the KEY person in merging them all together some day. I think the Java world need that right now!

Posted by Allan on September 14, 2007 at 02:42 AM MDT #

The truth is you haven't heard an uproar until you declare which project it is thats when you will get the real feelings towards the decision.

Posted by SM on September 14, 2007 at 08:22 AM MDT #

Lots of good comments already, but think about this: When you come across a problem with said framework, do you want to moan about it on your blog and move on, or do you want to spend the time to dig into the code and fix it yourself? If the former, then accepting committership would be purely a resume- and ego-boosting exercise, and it will be visible to the community as such. If the latter, then by all means, jump in!

Posted by Joe A on September 14, 2007 at 11:06 PM MDT #

We need fewer choices in web frameworks. I say join and help make it so good that some of the other frameworks die off over time.

Posted by Kyle Dyer on September 18, 2007 at 02:07 PM MDT #

Maybe the other AppFuse frameworks will follow suit, and you'll be invited to be a committer to most of them. It's not an election of remedies. A person can be a committer to Stripes, Struts, Tapestry, and Wicket, et al, all at the same time. Being a committer just means that you can apply your own patches, instead of waiting for someone else to do it. -Ted.

Posted by Ted Husted on September 18, 2007 at 07:42 PM MDT #

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Does becoming a committer hurt?