[swift-evolution] Large Proposal: Non-Standard Libraries

[Kelvin Ma]

On Tue, Nov 7, 2017 at 12:18 PM, Félix Fischer via swift-evolution <
swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:

> Hmm. I kind of like the idea, but not really. I think it has a fundamental
> flaw: centralization.
>
> You see, the StdLib can be commanded by a central authority (the core
> team) and hear the needs of the general community (through swift-evolution
> and such) because, among other things, it’s small. The StdLib solves common
> and well-understood problems. Most of the solutions it provides are optimal
> for all use cases.
>
> This is fundamentally different from a non-StdLib. If I understood your
> idea correctly, it would be the complement of StdLib; it will be big and it
> will attend problems that are not well-understood or whose solutions have
> many differrying  approaches depending on the users’ neccessities (think
> Geometry). Therefore, a correct and complete approach would inevitably have
> to:
> - Know the needs of all the relevant user groups and balance their
> priorities.
> - Contain all the important and complementary solutions.
>
> This is very hard to achieve in a centralized system. Not impossible, but
> very resource-intensive.
>
> You can achieve something similar by letting the community grow and by
> encouraging a good environment. People will the build the tools they need,
> and the important voices will index the tools people use the most. That
> makes them good, as well as easily findable. It’s not perfect either, but
> it’s more efficient in my opinion.
>
> — Félix Fischer
>

People tend to build the tools they need, but not what other people need.
And there are many many examples from other languages of what can go wrong
when non-standard libraries compete. As for important voices indexing the
tools people use the most, I don’t see that happening.
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