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Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2003 07:48:45 -0400
From: Ted Husted <husted@apache.org>
Organization: Apache Software Foundation - Jakarta Project
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To: Struts Users Mailing List <struts-user@jakarta.apache.org>
Subject: Re: Using JSTL tags instead of Struts tags
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Yansheng Lin wrote:
 > It doesn't sound right to me.  Java still support deprecated methods
 > from years ago.  Besides, when we look at the struts tag lib API
 > reference, there is no warning about these tags being deprecated.

Craig R. McClanahan wrote:
> IMHO, it would be a disservice to the Struts community for Struts to keep
> on innovating and maintaining its (now proprietary to Struts) expression
> language, when the rest of the world is going to follow a different
> standard.


=:0) IMHO, Struts is the Struts community. =:0)

Realistically, if someone came along who wanted to work the original 
Struts tags, and started submitting a bunch of useful patches, in all 
liklihood that someone would end up being a Committer. The original tags 
would live and grow so long as there was someone around who wanted to 
nurture them.

But, as it stands, the individuals who have volunteered their own time 
and energy in building and improving Struts are tending to look to the 
new technologies. Craig, along with some others, have made a commitment 
to support the conventional tags with bugfixes through 1.x. But that's a 
personal commitment, made of their own free will.

It's important for everyone to remember that this is a volunteer 
project. We do not sit in a room somewhere and allocate resources. 
Everyone's time is their own, and we don't try to tell people what to do 
with the time they freely volunteer to the Foundation.

The individuals who now commit the most time to Struts [David Graham 
springs to mind =:0)] are using technologies like JSTL in their own 
projects. (You know, the ones that put bread on the table.) Accordingly, 
these technologies is where they will put their time and energy.

Likewise, Craig spends "a bit" [=;0)] of his time working with JSF. So, 
naturally, he will be most interested in continuing to bridge the gap 
between Struts and JSF.

Personally, if you are using tags, I recommend that you follow their 
example and (leisurely) steer your teams toward the JSTL/JSF horizon. 
There's no particular rush, though. JSTL is still relatively new, and 
JSF hasn't even been born yet. =:0)

But, whether or not the original Struts tags are simply maintained or 
enhanced is not up to any one of us. It's a matter of whether there are 
individuals in the Struts community who are ready, willing, and able to 
step up to the plate and make it so.

So far, we've been very fortunate in that people like David Karr and 
Craig McClanahan have gone to the trouble of providing clear paths to 
JSTL and JSF. So, those who want to move along, can do so now.

But, if others want to stay behind, it's up to them to do their own 
work. It's not fair, reasonable, or even wise to ask people to volunteer 
their own free time to improve technologies they do not themselves use.

-Ted.


-- 
Ted Husted,
   Junit in Action  - <http://www.manning.com/massol/>,
   Struts in Action - <http://husted.com/struts/book.html>,
   JSP Site Design  - <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861005512>.


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