fraggle
Super Moderator
Posts: 4355
Registered: 07-00 |
Because different developers are interested in different things, and those things are sometimes mutually exclusive. It would probably be impossible to have all the features of ZDoom, while maintaining demo compatibility, for example.
Because developers have their own ideas about how to implement things and would rather do things in different ways. As an analogy, your question is kind of like asking "Why do we have to have two political parties? Can't we just have one so we don't have the hassle of deciding which one to vote for?". As an extreme example, jval has translated the entire Doom source into Delphi for his DelphiDoom port because he likes that language. Fair enough, but you'll never convince all of the other source port programmers to accept that!
Because different developers have different opinions on licensing: some are die-hard GPL-only, while others, like the ZDoom guys, are more lax and willing to incorporate non-free code. The GPL camp would never accept non-free code, while the "ZDoom camp" would never accept the licensing bureaucracy.
Because it would actually be more effort to develop and maintain this hypothetical "one port" than to simply develop multiple ports in parallel. You have to take into account the logistical challenges of maintaining a large team, and the communications between team members.
Because programmers are assholes, we all have enormous egos and would never accept having to deal with each others' bullshit.
Last edited by fraggle on 04-17-08 at 17:24
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04-17-08 14:18 
