Re: [jakarta.ee-spec.committee] Interaction Between Code-First and Speci

[Bill Shannon <bill.shannon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard Monson-Haefel wrote on 05/30/2018 11:00 PM:
> The idea of "code-first" is a good one but figuring out how that is going to
> be coordinated with writing/updating a written specification and API seems to
> be a stumbling point.
>
> My suggestion is that proposals for new functionality in the specifications
> and APIs must be demonstrated with code somewhere (either by a vendor outside
> the Jakarta EE WG or as a skunk-works project under the Jakarta EE WG) and
> reviewed before being considered for addition to the specification. If it
> works and everyone thinks it makes sense to add it to the specification, then
> its added. 
>
> The demonstration might be just a sampling of code or maybe someone did a full
> implementation integrated with their Jakarta EE product.  Either way, code
> will have been written and demonstrated to work before it is even considered
> for inclusion in a specification update.
>
> Once its specified and the TCKs are written than it can be included in
> implementations.
>
You mean other than the first "privileged" implementation that gets to
experiment with the new functionality.

While there will always be product-specific features, some of which might make
their way into future versions of the specification, wouldn't it also be nice if
multiple independent implementations of new functionality could be created
simultaneously to experiment with the new features in different contexts and
with different customers?  I just don't see how to do that without having some
sort of specification being developed at the same time as the implementations.