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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)
Re:Looks like... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Looks like... (Score:4, Funny)
Hmmmmm (Score:2, Funny)
Is it just me....or does php-internals sound painful ?
Re:Hmmmmm (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.taose.co.uk/)
Re:Hmmmmm (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.justjournal.com/)
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...
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
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)
(http://kamthaka.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday March 30 2005, @03:18PM)
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.
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!!
Re:Looks like a stomp and a doorslam. (Score:4, Funny)
(http://sitetheory.com/ | Last Journal: Friday October 24 2003, @10:59AM)
I would say this is marriage in a nutshell.
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)
(http://www.beyondunreal.com/)
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.
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]
Re:Message text (Score:4, Informative)
(http://del.icio.us/jvz | Last Journal: Sunday December 03 2006, @12:45PM)
6 years is long enough (Score:5, Funny)
Re:6 years is long enough (Score:4, Funny)
(Last Journal: Thursday May 03 2007, @08:58AM)
This post brought to you by Slashdot stereotypes. Try it today!
Threads?.. bah! (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Thursday August 21 2003, @11:52AM)
Only pages with more than 1 visitor need to ca.. OOPS!
Shock! (Score:3, Funny)
(http://www.rawsontetley.org/)
Re:Shock! (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Wednesday January 04 2006, @11:45AM)
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?
Re:Shock! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Shock! (Score:4, Funny)
I love the smell of blanket statements in the morning. Smells like....ignorance.
Re:Shock! (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.game-point.net/ | Last Journal: Monday November 14 2005, @09:19AM)
At this point, thrust your groin toward them vigourously several times, wave your hands about like a snake and make a donkey sound. Then say, "And you know full well what THAT meant."
Re:Shock! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/)
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."
Re:Shock! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://elgoog.rb-hosting.de/)
Re:Shock! (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://calum.org/)
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.
Pity (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.ki.se/ | Last Journal: Tuesday August 28, @07:06AM)
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)
Emotions picked up from reading the email (Score:1, Interesting)
(http://a-life-in-perspective.blogspot.com/)
Thank you Deanna F'n Troi (Score:5, Funny)
Good riddance... although a sad one! (Score:1, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Monday August 22 2005, @11:02AM)
I could not care less. Take care. Please do not reply to this email. --Jani
p.s. Delete my CVS account. I have no use for it anymore.
Sometimes I wonder when Linus uses phrases like 'Kicks Ass' 'Couldn't care less' etc., (I refer to his fruity prose in the debate on microkernels) whether he's really suited to his job. Projects like Linux and PHP have a very high reputation, it is unbecoming of bigwigs to talk and act like Ballsmers.
Re:Good riddance... although a sad one! (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm)
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?
Re:Good riddance... although a sad one! (Score:4, Informative)
(Last Journal: Monday August 22 2005, @11:02AM)
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.
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.
Re:Good riddance... although a sad one! (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Wednesday July 26 2006, @07:26AM)
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.