[aosd-discuss] defining modular reasoning

[Robin Green]

On Tue, Apr 26, 2005 at 11:18:46AM -0700, Mik Kersten wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: discuss-bounces at aosd.net [mailto:discuss-bounces at aosd.net] On Behalf
> > Of Jonathan Aldrich
> ...
> > I'm an empiricist about modularity.  
> ...
> > AOP without tool support can in some cases compromise the fundamental
> rationales for modularity
> ...
> 
> I'm an empiricist about tool support.  Mira, Rickard, and Ron have already
> made all the good points about its role, and I just want to add one bit of
> empirical perspective.  The vast majority of industry developers wouldn't
> dream of programming without tool support.  A couple recent surveys place
> the use of IDEs around 95%:
> 
> http://datadino.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4
> http://servlets.com/polls/results.tea?name=javaide 

Umm, did you even read those pages?

The first one asks "What Java/JSP IDE do you use?" - leading question, anyone?

The second one clearly states:

"These results are for entertainment purposes only. They probably don't mean
anything. It's just fun to see what other people think."

Simple web-based surveys have a host of problems, including trivial ballot-stuffing
and potentially enormous sample biases. For example, web-based surveys are frequently
publicised on "partisan" websites, resulting in a biased sample, even if the sample
was relatively unbiased to begin with.

You might well be right in your conclusion, but I wouldn't go around citing
surveys marked as "for entertainment purposes only" if I were you.
-- 
Robin
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