[development] Field API! Review it, or forever hold your peace.

[Barry Jaspan]

After a year of thought and (intermittent) work, the Drupal 7 Field 
API is very nearly a reality.  The recent Fields in Core code sprint 
at Acquia was a great success and got us "over the hump" on the this 
project.  Since then, the team has been working on finishing up the 
loose ends standing between us and the initial commit.

The Field API is going to *replace* CCK's database functionality in 
D7 and beyond.  If you think this might affect your Drupal-ish 
future, now would be a good time to review it and chime in with your 
opinion.  If you choose not to, don't come complaining to me later. :-)

You will probably find the Fields in Core Code Sprint Final Report a 
useful introduction: http://drupal.org/node/361042.

I've set up a handy-dandy page describing the best way(s) to help: 
http://drupal.org/node/361849.

To start you off in the right direction, though, here's a tip: the 
best two ways to help out RIGHT NOW are to review the Field API 
documentation (http://drupal.org/node/362764) and the current 
proposed Field API patch (http://drupal.org/node/361683).  Note that 
the patch Field API patch is not in a ready-to-commit state yet but 
it is close and the key elements are all in place.

You can also try out the CCK UI, but you'll have to get it directly 
from CVS contrib.  Yes, this means that CCK will probably be ready on 
the day D7 is released.  Yay for that.

Thanks,

Barry