[development] Module Builder Module 1.0

[Chris Johnson]

Larry Garfield wrote:

> OK, I've not actually looked at it yet, so I can't comment on how 
> good/late-night the code is, but my knee-jerk reaction is that I don't like 
> code generation in the first place.  

> As a for-instance:
> 
> hook_load(), hook_insert(), and hook_update() are horribly redundant.  All 
> three do the same thing in almost any node.  They select/insert/delete fields 
> from a table, using almost the same code.  Sometimes there will be an extra 
> table to manipulate, but there's still almost always a basic node++ table.  
> And the fields have to be specified in all of them.  Ick!

> So yeah, code generation in general gets a -1 for me in favor of more powerful 
> and generalized polymorphic code.
> 


Well, I'm all about generalized, abstracted, objectified database access -- 
and I'm writing such a class library for my employer right now.

However, I'm still very pleased with Angie's module.  It's a great tool for 
sketching a new module so that one doesn't forget to code the hooks it needs. 
  And it is similarly instructional, teaching programmers about how to develop 
Drupal modules.

Moreover, to hack the quote from Donald Rumsfeld, the US secretary of defense: 
  one codes to the core hooks one has at the moment, not to what one would 
like to have.  Sure, go ahead and develop a "more powerful and generalized 
polymorphic code" for the core hooks, and get them committed to core, so that 
module generation is less valuable.  In the meantime, this module is a great 
tool.  If you don't like it, don't use it.  :-)

..chrisxj