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Lead PHP Developer Quits
Posted by
CowboyNeal
on Fri Jul 28, 2006 06:49 AM
from the changing-of-the-guard dept.
from the changing-of-the-guard dept.
Jasper Bryant-Greene writes "Jani Taskinen, one of the lead developers of the Zend Engine (the engine that powers PHP), as well as a lead developer for the thread safety system and other core components of the PHP project, has quit in a relatively cryptic message to the php-internals mailing list. Jani has been involved with PHP for about 6 years and his loss will undoubtedly be a big blow for the PHP project."
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Looks like... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Looks like... (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:Looks like... (Score:5, Funny)
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Looks like a stomp and a doorslam. (Score:4, Insightful)
Why is this on slashdot?
Re:Looks like a stomp and a doorslam. (Score:5, Insightful)
Recently, I read an interesting book by a psychologist named Paul Eckman. OK it wasn't an interesting book, it was a tedious book on a fascinating subject.
A couple of the takeways from the book: emotions are persistant mental states that are triggered by situations that bear on your future well being, and in turn trigger certain stereotyped survival related behaviors. In an emotional state, people do not process new information that would contradict the survival behavior. In other words, once you get to fighting, or to running away, you aren't going to listen to reason until you've fought it out or have run far, far away. The psychologists therefore call emotional states refractory, which is a word I learned from EE "Doc" Smith which when applied to metal means hard to work and when applied to a state of mind means hard to work with.
I've sometimes seen job listings looking for people who are passionate about their work. I'm not so sure this the right thing to look for unless you are looking for a short term employee. All jobs involve having your desires frustrated from time to time. As your emotions build up, your ability to process new information and ideas that could help you overcome your frustrations is diminished, because atavistic survival behaviors related to conflict and survival begin to strangle your productiivty.
In that case, the best thing is to take yourself out of the situation, which in all liklihood your own behavior contributes to.
You can take two people who are miserable and underperforming in their jobs, have them swap jobs, and suddenly they'll feel a great relief and surge of productivity, as they work flexibly around the exact same kinds of problems that had them stymied in their original job.
Unless you're some kind of Zen master you're going to run into this sooner or later. When you reach the point where you can't perform up to your potential, even your potential as defined by the less than perfect work situation you're in, it's time to move on. This is probably why academia, infamous for its harsh and pointless politics, evolved the institution of the sabbatical. But for the rest of us, this means quitting and getting a new job.
The emotions expressed in the email are probably universal. They do not in themselves indicate immaturity However, one thing that you do learn as you get older is when you feel strong negative emotions towards other people, hiding them is the best first reaction. In most cases you cannot change other people, especially if you are terminating your relationship to them. So the best you might hope for from negativity in the way you do this is some kind of catharsis, or perhaps some kind of public vindication. However experience teaches you don't often get those, and when you do they aren't as satisfying as you imagined them being.
Above the simple futilty of showing your anger and disappointment, expressions of strong negative emotion evoke an equal, if not stronger reaction from their targets. Often this ignites a round of petty retribution that comes back to haunt you.
So when it becomes impossible to deal with the emotional climate of work, leave. But always leave with a kind and magnanimous word. In the end that serves you best.
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Re:Looks like a stomp and a doorslam. (Score:5, Funny)
Unless you're some kind of Zen master you're going to run into this sooner or later.
Well, he is apparently a Zend master!!
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Message text (Score:5, Informative)
From: Jani Taskinen
Date: Thu Jul 27 20:28:45 2006
Subject: Good bye.
Groups: php.internals
Re:Message text (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously, though, a more thorough listing of Jani's contributions over the past 6+ years might better show just how much of a loss it is to have him depart the scene (from http://www.zend.com/person.php?handle=sniper [zend.com]:
Whatever the reasons were, major thanks have to go to Jani for all of his work. We would be looking at a different www without his efforts.
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Re:Message text (Score:5, Informative)
% grep sniper TSRM/*.[ch]
TSRM/tsrm_nw.c:/* $Id: tsrm_nw.c,v 1.8.2.1 2006/01/01 12:50:00 sniper Exp $ */
TSRM/tsrm_virtual_cwd.h:/* $Id: tsrm_virtual_cwd.h,v 1.48.2.5 2006/04/10 11:56:18 sniper Exp $ */
TSRM/tsrm_win32.c:/* $Id: tsrm_win32.c,v 1.27.2.1 2006/01/01 12:50:00 sniper Exp $ */
TSRM/tsrm_win32.h:/* $Id: tsrm_win32.h,v 1.19.2.1 2006/01/01 12:50:00 sniper Exp $ */
% grep Jani Zend/*.[ch]
% grep sniper Zend/*.[ch]
I am not sure how his profile on zend.com was compiled, but whoever did it should have been more accurate. Let me emphasize this: Jani is a friend and will be missed, but that was his personal decision made for personal reasons (which I will not disclose here) and will not affect the project.
Let's all keep our heads up and speculation down.
-Andrei
http://www.gravitonic.com/ [gravitonic.com]
Parent
6 years is long enough (Score:5, Funny)
Threads?.. bah! (Score:5, Funny)
Only pages with more than 1 visitor need to ca.. OOPS!
Pity (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunate for the Zend team, but I'm sure it won't be the death of PHP. There are many other developers, and you can still run PHP sites with other engines, for instance, the Quercus [caucho.com] engine in Cauchos Resin I'm sure there are similar modules available in the mono/.Net world and others.
Jani Taskinen who? (Score:5, Informative)
Jani worked on the PHP core and the Zend Engine.
Jani has contributed to php.net in the following ways over the last 12 months:
* as a lead developer for Zend Engine II
* as a lead developer for TSRM (Thread Safety Resource Management)
* by testing and maintaining the build for the PHP core
* by writing/maintaining tests for the standard functions in the PHP core
* as a lead developer for gd, a core extension
* by working as a developer on imap, a core extension
* by working as a developer on session, a core extension
* by working as a developer on sockets, a core extension
* by providing occasional fixes for the testsuite distributed with PHP
* by applying maintenance fixes to the underlying libraries in bcmath, pcre and xmlrpc
* by providing tests and occasional fixes for xml
* by providing occasional fixes for apache2filter, apache2handler, apache_hooks, cgi, cli, dba, dom, iconv, informix, isapi, ldap, mcrypt, mcve, mime_magic, msql, mssql, mysqli, mysql, ncurses, oci8, odbc, openssl, oracle, pgsql, recode, snmp, soap, sqlite, sybase, tidy and tokenizer
* by writing/maintaining tests for mbstring, mhash, pcntl, pspell, shmop and wddx
* by working as a developer on bugs.php.net
Re:Jani Taskinen who? (Score:5, Funny)
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Betrayal ? (Score:4, Interesting)
Dont know much about PHP and dont know the insides of what happens with the group but judging by the reaction I wonder if I can hazard a guess about what happened. When someone who is obviously a major driving force behind a movement of this kind quits with so much bitterness as to turn his back on his own creation, the best I can gather is he feels theres nothing left worth working/fighting for. Maybe internal politics is causing a serious strain on his ability to function and some of the fights may have wrongly undermined his credibility in the eyes of others. Its sad when people hog the limelight of someone elses hard work and alienate the people who matter for their own personal shortsighted gains. I've seen it happen all to often.
Maybe (Score:5, Insightful)
Judging him harshly? (Score:5, Insightful)
As a volunteer he gave a great deal back to the world. You call him childish. I say he is entitled to walk away without having to explain himself.
Re:Judging him harshly? (Score:5, Funny)
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Cryptic? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cryptic? (Score:4, Funny)
That isn't cryptic either... and stop calling Dubya a dwarf! ;-)
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From IRC, the reason: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:From IRC, the reason: (Score:5, Informative)
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more logs because the internet likes pasted logs (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:From IRC, the reason: (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:From IRC, the reason: (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed.
However, which one of the four unarmed UN observers killed in the attack was a threat to Israel's existence or its people?
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Re:Israel is not "attacking the civilian populatio (Score:5, Informative)
like civilian airports ? power stations ? sewage works ?
pretty big targets to be hit "accidentally".
In fact, Israel has taken pains to inform civilians
And then killed them when they flee their homes in response to those warnings.
And then attacked red cross ambulances evacuating the wounded.
And attacked the UN convoys taking aid to those too frightened to move.
And the unarmed UN observers (in a bunker, apparently detroyed by precision guided weapon, after repeated requests from the UN not to hit those coordinates).
And then shelled the UN rescue effort for the observers.
Sure, Hezbolla is throwing back random unguided rockets, but the IDF does not have that excuse, they are supposedly using modern precision guided weapons, it's pretty hard to believe all these are all accidentally off-target.
Finally, today's news quote:
So, in their own words, this is defintely purposeful.
Fact is neither side cares about civilian lives.
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Re:From IRC, the reason: (Score:5, Insightful)
Still, someone would have a reason to make a fake irc log in this direction, which can only be done if they'd have a personal grudge against this guy. So if this log is not fake, then it's probably good for everyone that he quit, if it is fake, then it's also clear why there was an atmosphere for him to quit.
The fact that people reason like the one in this log is really shocking, but true. People didn't seem to have learned anything about that we really need to be careful judging people: Not all muslims are terrorists, not all jews are responsible of this action of the Israeli government. Not all people put on the blacklist by air marshalls are a threat for your country. Thinking in black/white contrasts is not only bad for others, it is also very bad for yourself!
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Re:From IRC, the reason: (Score:5, Informative)
Regardless of stupid things that he said, I think it's VERY poor taste to post an emotional outburst (which was timestamped at 2am - yes, it's real) and to make such a big deal over this.
Move on people...
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Re:From IRC, the reason: (Score:5, Insightful)
I was part of the peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu, Somalia. Several of my "co-workers" were killed in very deliberate attacks against US and UN forces. However, if I came home and said that I wanted to join Aryan Nations to kill me some black people, I'd be (rightfully) shunned from polite society.
I can empathize with Jani, probably more than can 99.9% of Slashdotters, but that doesn't make his outburst acceptable. Understandable, sure, but acceptable.
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Re:Ironic (Score:5, Interesting)
And since he hasn't actually killed anyone in his frustration and rage, he's still miles behind the bomb-flingers of the world in the lameness department.
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Re:From IRC, the reason: (Score:5, Insightful)
If it's true, that's a nice little bit of anti-Semitism at the end. He may want to be anti-Israel, but he's just exposed himself as a garden-variety anti-Semite, too.
Writing as a fellow Finn, I can assure you that most people here don't know the difference between Jews and Israel. I'm sure Jani only has hard opinions against the government and the politics of the Israel state.
Furthermore, I really think that the anti-semitist card has been used for far too long already. Hitler did a horrible crime against Jews but Israel shouldn't use that to gain political advantage any more. Israel is not the weak little victim in this conflict.
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Come on guys.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think many of you guys need to readjust your sense of proportionality. This guy has most likely done more to both world peace _and_ open source world than 99% of the whiners on this forum.. and now you are mocking him for not revealing some interpersonal issues and saying ill-considered things in chat *once* when obviously being out of his mind.
Consider this. That guy has
1) worked deeply on a project for six years and has just made a decision to quit it,
2) has just lost a coworker in a bit questionable series of events,
3) is obviously depressed or burned out or both,
4) is constantly under threat while serving in hostile country with no infrastructure of whatsoever and having to remain calm and peaceful while in desperate situation and underpowered,
5) has had harder than normal time in service past six months and
6) people are blaming you for not answering their *software project* emails fast enough, when you have been busy with things 4 and 5.
If you can say you have experienced even *half* of these, let alone simultaneously and are willing to come up and admit it, *then* I can take you seriously when you come and say that you didn't say anything unprintable in that situation. Maybe.
And also remember: english is not his native language. It's more than a bit hypocritical to judge someone you have not even met by his writing in *chat* in *foreign language*, especially when the chat log is spread without his consent by someone who is not willing to reveal his name, nor the context of the discussion.
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Move along (Score:4, Insightful)
Lead developer for Zend engine of PHP quits... pandemonium and chaos ensue!
Please! Happens all the time; guy/gal works on project for a zillion years, sits down one day in front of their terminal, calls up the code, gives it a glance and goes: I can't freakin' do this anymore! I worked on one project for three years and it was blessed when I was finally released from my contract and moved on to other things. I was proud of the app, don't get me wrong, but if I had to finagle the code yet again for the umpteenth time, I was going to lose what remains of my mind.
Whatever the reason, he's gone. Move along... nothing to see here.
Re:Move along (Score:4, Insightful)
To me, same difference. It doesn't matter what the root causes are: slow coding, bugs, power struggles, idiotic requirements. There comes a point where coding the same thing day in and day out given all that's going on around you is impossible. It sucks your energy and creativity away, until the code all blurs together you and can't even remember what you wrote five minutes ago.
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Seeds of conflict? (Score:5, Interesting)
I found these:
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=php-dev&m=11329681 6720289&w=2 [theaimsgroup.com] 5 7711671&w=2 [theaimsgroup.com] 0 9820157&w=2 [theaimsgroup.com]
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=php-dev&m=1153255
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=php-dev&m=1153312
...which hint at conflict. Maybe one of those blew up in a way he didn't like. However, I don't think those really are the issues. I would guess it's something off-list. It's too bad. I have friends working at Zend. You never want to see someone so useful walk away.
I must admit that I'm impressed with the mailing list -- Jani said "don't reply" and nobody did. They're either a disciplined bunch, heavily moderated, or Jani's leaving just didn't have much impact.
-Tony
Re:Hmmmmm (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Hmmmmm (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is it such a shock to some that a developer got burned out working on the same code. Open source developers are often not appreciated. A few get paid and many don't. Its just constant nagging for new features or bug fixes. There are rewarding aspects too. Maybe he wanted to do something with php that hasn't happened. He was involved with thread safety and that hasn't seemed important to many people. Personally I'd like to see thread safe php so I could play with some of the apache mpms...
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Re:Hmmmmm (Score:5, Funny)
Its just constant nagging for new features or bug fixes
...
Personally I'd like to see thread safe php so I could play with some of the apache mpms
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Thank you Deanna F'n Troi (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Good riddance... although a sad one! (Score:5, Insightful)
If they deliver the code and can keep the project together with their style, then can act how they want. Linus, RMS, Theo de Raadt - they have their quirks (Linus much less than the others), but the code speaks for itself.
Since you're going as far as to question Linus suitability for his job (architecting his hobby project that conquered the world) - where's your wildly succesful open source project?
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Re:Good riddance... although a sad one! (Score:4, Informative)
Huh... I made Linux-jkrise.. I once recompiled the kernel to fix some USB CDMA modem issue - does that count?
If they deliver the code and can keep the project together with their style, then can act how they want.
Actually, just a coupla' days back, I remember reading this stuff about a PHP book.
"This book, written by my colleague, Andi Gutmans, and two very prominent PHP developers, Stig Bakken and Derick Rethans, holds the key to unlocking the riches of PHP 5. It thoroughly covers all of the features of this new version, and is a must have for all PHP developers interested in exploring PHP 5's advanced features"
Zeev Suraski, Co-Designer of PHP 5 and Co-Creator of the Zend Engine
Looks like there's more than one creator of the Zend Engine... not just Jani. And that's the reason why I think inflated egos are bad in Open Source development teams.
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Re:Good riddance... although a sad one! (Score:5, Insightful)
Since you're going as far as to question Linus suitability for his job (architecting his hobby project that conquered the world) - where's your wildly succesful open source project?
One needs a wildly successful open source project to criticize somebody's leadership of some other wildly successful open source project?
I suppose that one would also need to be the leader of a country with population of 300 million to criticize the job performance of the US president. Or perhaps be a highly respected engineer with specialty in safety to know that the Ford Pintos bursting into flame at the slightest provocation a couple decades ago wasn't a good thing.
Please.
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Re:Good riddance... although a sad one! (Score:5, Insightful)
Bah! You're reading too much into his words. As I see it, what he's trying to say is that the reasons to him leaving are personal, but obvious for some poeple involved. Also, he does not want to start pointing fingers and does not feel he owes anybody an explanation. Perhaps you see this as behaving like a primadonna, but hardly hot-headed behaviour. He doesn't insult anybody in his post, although he obviously wants to and he refrains from whining about whatever he's unhappy about.
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Re:Good riddance... although a sad one! (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay, you've accused him of:
All this from simply quitting and not wishing to be associated with a project any more? He didn't accuse anybody of anything, he didn't rant and rave, he said he was leaving and wasn't coming back. How is that anything like the attitude you describe?
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Re:Shock! (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Shock! (Score:5, Funny)
At shorter ranges the M1A1's APFSDS zips right through the Challenger II, but the Challenger II can hit the Abrahams at longer ranges with its HESH, probably not killing the crew, but a mobility kill is good enough.
Ok?
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Re:Shock! (Score:5, Insightful)
As a Brit, (a nation with arguably some of the best sarcasm/irony in comedy), I would say that I don't find it sarcastic in the least. It just sounds absurd and stupid.
So, if you're using it for sarcastic effect, don't bother.
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Re:Shock! (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, sarchasm is the gulf in understanding between someone who makes a sarcastic statement, and someone who doesn't get sarcasm.
Sarcasm: "This weather is worse than Hurricane Katrina!"
Sarchasm: "What are you talking about? Hurricane Katrina was a major disaster, this is only a heavy rainstorm."
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Re:Shock! (Score:5, Funny)
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Reason: burnout (Score:5, Insightful)
The causes are quite straight-forward. When we do something for other people, we need some kind of reward. It can come in many forms - appreciation, money, reputation, status. The best rewards change over time and are a good mix of all these.
Open source projects consume people, with demands on their time, social life, professional capacity. The only rewards tend to be reputation. Depending on the invidual's personal life and other demands (family, job), they can sustain a heavy open source project for a few years, and as many as five or six. At some point, it either becomes a profession (with a wage) or a problem.
All volunteer organisations have this problem and it's exacerbated by peer pressure. If everyone else is spending 80 hours a week hacking, then it seems normal to spend 81. At some points, open source projects can seem like cults, and unintentionally adopt many cult techniques to keep people involved, whatever the personal cost.
(Those techniques include isolation from family, use of secret languages, separation from real time and real life, etc. I don't *think* any OS projects do this on purpose, though I have my secret doubts about the FSF. Just kidding, Richard!)
I've seen burnout cases so severe the persons involved were literally sick, unable to function normally any more, and needing psychiatric help. In other cases it's project-specific. I've had this on open source projects, where after five years I've just abandoned the software, telling the users, "sorry, it's not working any more".
Each person has different needs, but eventually if we don't get what we need, we get sick. Young people are especially vulnerable because they don't understand their own needs very well and neglect them easily.
The upside is that burnout is easily cured by a change of scene and some tangible rewards. Some people even come back to projects they've abandoned, but it can be very difficult. A good dose of selfishness ("what do I need in order to feel happy NOW") is always useful, and a good self-protection measure in many environments, open source groups included.
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