WordPoints version 2.1.0 contains some major changes to the points hooks, and I’ve been working on these changes for several months. Unfortunately they still aren’t done, and I’m going to have to push the release date from August 31 back to September 30.

Release deadlines aren’t arbitrary, and I always try my best to meet them. But if there is one thing worse than missing the release date for a feature, it is releasing a feature before it is ready. Over the past few days I’ve been trying to think of a way to hit the deadline and still have a polished release. Up to now, I have thought that I might be able to focus on getting one part of the new features ready, and save the rest for the next release. But now I’ve realized that too many of the features are interconnected for that to be possible. If I released at the end of August, the new version would be buggy, untested, and not fully functional. And that just isn’t acceptable.

Missing a deadline is tough, but occasionally it has to happen. The reasons I wasn’t able to meet this one are many. Partly, it is because I just didn’t estimate very well how long it would take. In programming, the rule of thumb is that a project will always take about 10 times longer than you think it will. It seems there’s always some unforeseen problem that you have to overcome. The changes I’ve been working on are very broad and complex, and I’ve had to spend a lot of time just thinking about how things will work—before I can even start trying to build them and see if they really will work.

In addition, several things have come up which have taken considerable time away from the project. I spent several days working on the 2.0.1 security release, instead of the new features in 2.1. Also, I took a week off in July when my grandfather passed away.

But some of the things are very positive. I spent a few days last week working on the much-requested BuddyPress module. This gave me a chance to put the new code to the test, and I’m very excited about the result. I think it will be possible to develop modules much more rapidly with the new code in 2.1. And I’m really looking forward to that!

I’m sorry that I have to delay this release, but I think it will be worth the wait. If you have any questions, or would like to express your outrage :-), the comments are open.