[Typo3-dev] extension reviewing

Leendert Brouwer [Netcreators] leendert at netcreators.nl
Fri May 14 09:48:53 CEST 2004


"Kevin Draper" <kdraper at wildcanary.ca> wrote in message
news:mailman.1.1084477838.8394.typo3-dev at lists.netfielders.de...
> Anything that can explain extension programming would be greatly
> appreciated!!  Currently there are the "Creating a basic extension" and
the
> "EXT: Form Extension Tutorial" tutorials, but these don't do much more
than
> explain how to create a plug-in.  There is no real discussion as to *how*
to
> program an extension.  For example, the most simple thing, there is no
> explanation as to what the $content and $conf parameters are used for in
the
> main() function.  Just figuring that out alone took *way* too long.
>
> Another problem with figuring out extension programming is knowing what
> model to follow.  It is obvious that some of the existing extensions are
> quite old and were written under a different philosophy.  It is very
> difficult to determine what is good practice and what is not.
>
> If I had the knowledge, I would try to write something, but right now I am
a
> bumbling newbie, desperately trying to make sense of everything...
>
> Kevin.
>

I'm glad you bring this up. This is exactly what annoyed me as well. There
needs to be much more documentation on _how_ extensions are programmed. I
spent a lot of time just staring at code trying to figure out what was
mandatory, what common practices within the system are, and so on, and if
the process of making extensions was properly documented, that waste of time
could have been avoided. I don't think examples of extensions are enough to
explain _how_ they are built. That's like giving a carpenter-to-be a house
and tell him to take a good look at it, and then assuming he'll know how to
construct a house. Not saying that it's not possible, but a story can do
much more than some example code, imho. I'm taking notes during extension
development, and I definitely want to write a few thorough tutorials on how
things are done once I have enough notes and knowledge. I like to write.
I'll just make sure to have my tutorial reviewed first, because there are
some things I'm not even sure about myself yet (again, because of a lack of
clear documentation). Just an idea, maybe there need to be seperate
documentation sections for e.g:
- users (mainly about interface related things)
- implementors (mainly about TS and so on)
- extension developers (mainly about common practices, case studies,
implications of certain practices and so on)
Although it's kind of seperated now, when there will be more and more
documentation the current approach will probably be a bit obfuscating over
time. If this stuff is properly documented and organized, Typo3 would be
more kickass.

Anyway, just my 2 cents for now (I'll have much more cents in the future!)







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