[vorbis-dev] Vorbis encoder?

[Graham Mitchell]

> I am pretty sure, that there is no generic documentation for a vorbis
> encoder available and also no high level documentation of the reference
> implementation.

Besides the "There's More Than One Way to Do It" reason Tor mentioned, 
another reason for this is "understaffing" (for lack of a better word) at 
xiph.org.  There are only a few programmers who really understand the ins 
and outs of the encoder (and I'm not one of them), and they're too busy 
working on things perceived as higher priorities (like getting vorbis 
support for next generation portable music player hardware, and probably 
peeling support, too).

Currently the prevailing attitude is, "The code *is* the documentation.  And 
if that's not enough, then we don't have time to help you, other than 
answering a few targetted questions on the mailing list or IRC."

And that's out of necessity rather than meanness.  Certainly offers for 
better developer-level documentation would be gratefully accepted; there's 
just not much out there.  And there's not likely to be until 1) someone 
writes some, or 2) the core developers get through their TODO lists enough 
for that to become a higher priority.

In particular, note that Monty is currently being paid to get Vorbis support 
working on the Neuros, so that's obviously his #1 priority right now.

Please don't interpret this as "if you can't understand the code, then we 
don't want you," (especially since in no capacity do I speak for xiph.org; 
I'm just a long-time list reader and occassional contributor).  It's just an 
icky catch-22: there's no documentation because there's no one who 
understands it and has time to write it; there's no one who understands it 
because there's no documentation.


-- 
Graham Mitchell - computer science teacher, Leander High School
"It is not possible to be 'incidentally a Christian'. The fact of
Christianity must be overwhelmingly first or nothing. This suggests a reason
for the dislike of Christians by nominal or non-Christians: their lives
contain no overwhelming firsts but many balances."
	-- Sheldon Vanauken

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