"Zope-certified Python Engineers" [was: Java and Python]

[Laura Creighton]

> ( Or maybe this begs for a Slashdot like system to
> distribute the review, grading and selection of projects. )
> 
> 
> -- Steve

You want something more like the scientific reviewing of a technical
paper than slashdot's 'all you need to vote is a pulse'.  Otherwise
the most popular wrong way to do something will generate the highest
marks.  This is a very hard thing to do politically -- there is a
tightrope between the sort of eletism which exists to keep a lid
on new, good, creative endeavours (a flaw you can correct by inserting 
more democracy into your process)and pandering to the worst base 
instincts of humanity (a flaw you can correct by having higher standards
in your selection committee).  The best way to do this is to provide
a certain amount of meta-data with your assessment -- so we can
find out not only that Steven Majewski thinks that XXX is cool, but
also that Steven Majewski has a reputation around here, and most
people think that Steven Majewski's opinion of something is valuable.

This doesn't stop Flaming Rabid Hamster from voting that Steven
Majewski is a fool and that every project that Steven Majerski finds
valuable is worthless, but if this is an minority opinion of 1, then
people will know where to place their bets.  Not only does this work
when evaluating the worthless and the vital, but it is even more
important when evaluating people and things that are in the middle.
Some people know a huge amount about a few subjects but also shoot
their mouths off about things they don't know anything about.  Some
pieces of code are terrific solutions for extremely hairy nasty
problems -- but the real fix is not to have the problem in the first
place.  Some people will blast the code when they should be blasting
the problem, and valuable workarounds can get lost in the 'Get a Real
Operating System' votes.  Some solutions are excellent -- provided
you don't have <too little memory, too many objects ...>  It would
be nice to be able to indicate this as well.

I think that this sort of metadata belongs in the sort of
cataloging system we should have to implement PEP 262, as well.
Of course, I am biased -- AB Strakt is building something to do
this, because we think that its a huge world problem that needs
fixing.

Laura Creighton