Forums

All-

I am proposing the creation of the S8-Dev Standards Committee, or SDSC. The SDSC Charter will include:

Definition of a "Unified Development Environment" that includes specifications and support documents for various development tools.
Developing guidelines for SMS and GG software coding standards
Developing and documenting standard formats for SMS "media" files such as save-state formats and music logging formats.
Promoting the incorporation of SDSC standards in future SMS emulators and development software.

I feel that one reason SMS/GG software development has been slow is the lack of standards and guidelines for software development efforts. With these standards in place, developers can safely begin creating the resources and libraries necessary for large-scale software development without worrying whether such resources will lose support or be "incompatible" with different development tools. If developers know that their hard work follows a standard that will be supported, they are more likely to create useful tools for others to use.

Before any of this can be done, though, the committee must be selected. The members of the committee will be responsible for periodically reviewing and voting on proposals made to the committee. Furthermore, members of the committee will be responsible for maintaining on-line documentation of standards published by the SDSC. Because the committee does not yet exist, a vote can not be taken on who should be a member. So, I propose that nominations are sufficient to become a voting member of the committee. I am nominating the following people based on their regular presence in the S8-Dev Forum and their software demo or documentation contributions to S8-Dev. Their names appear below in alphabetical order by last name or by handle:

Nominated for position as Voting Member: Charles Mac Donald
Nominated for position as Voting Member: Eric Quinn (acting Chairperson)
Nominated for position as Voting Member: Heliophobe
Nominated for position as Voting Member: Zoop
Nominated for position as Voting Member: Martin Konrad
Nominated for position as Voting Member: Mike Gordon

The above people are, of course, free to turn down their nomination, and any one else who feels they have something to contribute should nominate themselves. Also, please submit nominations for the position of Committee Chairperson. Nominations can be posted on the forum or sent to me at: e-quinn@elnet.com. Nominations will be taken until Sunday, February 25th, 2001. Until that time, I will be acting as the Committee Chairperson taking nominations and drafting the SDSC charter. The first official acts of the committe, to take place shortly after February 25th, will be to ratify the SDSC Charter, and to vote for an official Chairperson.

Thanks. I hope we can make this work.

--
Eric Quinn

The nominations should have appeared in the following order:

Nominated for position as Voting Member: Mike Gordon
Nominated for position as Voting Member: Heliophobe
Nominated for position as Voting Member: Martin Konrad
Nominated for position as Voting Member: Charles Mac Donald
Nominated for position as Voting Member: Eric Quinn (acting Chairperson)
Nominated for position as Voting Member: Zoop

--
Eric Quinn

Quote

> Definition of a "Unified Development Environment" that includes specifications and support documents for various development tools.
> Developing guidelines for SMS and GG software coding standards
> Developing and documenting standard formats for SMS "media" files such as save-state formats and music logging formats.
> Promoting the incorporation of SDSC standards in future SMS emulators and development software.

I like your idea, but I think it may be simpler to do the following:

- Write a general development FAQ that has links to tools, emulators, and guidelines about putting a SMS/GG program together.

You could mention a proposed standard on where data like notes, revision numbers, dates, etc. should be stored at.
I'm sure people on this forum would love to contribute, since a lot of us have written small programs now and then.

- Start a topic about save state / sound logging formats, so emu authors can put their heads together and agree on something.

It's probably been said before, but I personally would suggest sound logging with timestamps to recreate 'real time' sound effects, and a tagged save state format (like PNG) so it could be easily updated and modified with no loss of compatability with earlier versions of the format)

Just my 2 cents on the matter - but I hope this was constructive. :)

Author	Message
Eric R. Quinn Joined: 18 Sep 1999 Posts: 498 Location: Portland, Oregon USA	S8-Dev Standards Committee Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2001 11:56 pm
	All- I am proposing the creation of the S8-Dev Standards Committee, or SDSC. The SDSC Charter will include: Definition of a "Unified Development Environment" that includes specifications and support documents for various development tools. Developing guidelines for SMS and GG software coding standards Developing and documenting standard formats for SMS "media" files such as save-state formats and music logging formats. Promoting the incorporation of SDSC standards in future SMS emulators and development software. I feel that one reason SMS/GG software development has been slow is the lack of standards and guidelines for software development efforts. With these standards in place, developers can safely begin creating the resources and libraries necessary for large-scale software development without worrying whether such resources will lose support or be "incompatible" with different development tools. If developers know that their hard work follows a standard that will be supported, they are more likely to create useful tools for others to use. Before any of this can be done, though, the committee must be selected. The members of the committee will be responsible for periodically reviewing and voting on proposals made to the committee. Furthermore, members of the committee will be responsible for maintaining on-line documentation of standards published by the SDSC. Because the committee does not yet exist, a vote can not be taken on who should be a member. So, I propose that nominations are sufficient to become a voting member of the committee. I am nominating the following people based on their regular presence in the S8-Dev Forum and their software demo or documentation contributions to S8-Dev. Their names appear below in alphabetical order by last name or by handle: Nominated for position as Voting Member: Charles Mac Donald Nominated for position as Voting Member: Eric Quinn (acting Chairperson) Nominated for position as Voting Member: Heliophobe Nominated for position as Voting Member: Zoop Nominated for position as Voting Member: Martin Konrad Nominated for position as Voting Member: Mike Gordon The above people are, of course, free to turn down their nomination, and any one else who feels they have something to contribute should nominate themselves. Also, please submit nominations for the position of Committee Chairperson. Nominations can be posted on the forum or sent to me at: e-quinn@elnet.com. Nominations will be taken until Sunday, February 25th, 2001. Until that time, I will be acting as the Committee Chairperson taking nominations and drafting the SDSC charter. The first official acts of the committe, to take place shortly after February 25th, will be to ratify the SDSC Charter, and to vote for an official Chairperson. Thanks. I hope we can make this work. -- Eric Quinn

Eric R. Quinn Joined: 18 Sep 1999 Posts: 498 Location: Portland, Oregon USA	Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2001 11:59 pm
	The nominations should have appeared in the following order: Nominated for position as Voting Member: Mike Gordon Nominated for position as Voting Member: Heliophobe Nominated for position as Voting Member: Martin Konrad Nominated for position as Voting Member: Charles Mac Donald Nominated for position as Voting Member: Eric Quinn (acting Chairperson) Nominated for position as Voting Member: Zoop -- Eric Quinn

Charles MacDonald Joined: 28 Sep 1999 Posts: 1197	Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2001 6:44 pm
Charles MacDonald Joined: 28 Sep 1999 Posts: 1197	Quote > Definition of a "Unified Development Environment" that includes specifications and support documents for various development tools. > Developing guidelines for SMS and GG software coding standards > Developing and documenting standard formats for SMS "media" files such as save-state formats and music logging formats. > Promoting the incorporation of SDSC standards in future SMS emulators and development software. I like your idea, but I think it may be simpler to do the following: - Write a general development FAQ that has links to tools, emulators, and guidelines about putting a SMS/GG program together. You could mention a proposed standard on where data like notes, revision numbers, dates, etc. should be stored at. I'm sure people on this forum would love to contribute, since a lot of us have written small programs now and then. - Start a topic about save state / sound logging formats, so emu authors can put their heads together and agree on something. It's probably been said before, but I personally would suggest sound logging with timestamps to recreate 'real time' sound effects, and a tagged save state format (like PNG) so it could be easily updated and modified with no loss of compatability with earlier versions of the format) Just my 2 cents on the matter - but I hope this was constructive. :)

Forums

View topic - S8-Dev Standards Committee