Re: Vision for the future...
- Posted by jbrown105 at speedymail.org Nov 15, 2002
- 394 views
Actually, if none of you mind, ..... _start forward_ Date: 13 Feb 2002 From: Robert Craig <rds at RapidEuphoria.com> Subject: Re: Version 2.4 and beyond by inmta007.topica.com with SMTP; 13 Feb 2002 21:32:34 -0000 (InterMail vM.4.01.03.23 201-229-121-123-20010418) with SMTP id <20020213213233.XCJR12383.tomts9-srv.bellnexxia.net@Rob> charset="iso-8859-1" Derek Parnell writes: > I, for one, am not 100% sure of what are Euphoria's primary requirements. > I suspect that minimulism, speed, size, and platform choice have a part, > but what I'd really like, Robert, is to see them clearly stated and published > under the RDS banner. I don't have any hard and fast requirements or goals for Euphoria. I'm an opportunist. All I can do is tell you what I like about Euphoria, and what I feel about the current situation. 1. The core language. I'm content with the size of the core language. I reject the notion that it is "incomplete", or must be extended every year with new features. Sure, there could be some dotting of i's and crossing of t's, but any major new extension would have to match the power to weight ratio of the current core. Structures, classes, etc. are tempting, but I've studied them carefully over the years, and decided not to include them. When I look at grandiose languages, with 1000-page manuals describing only the *core* language, I'm appalled. People seem to be building all sorts of exotic, trendy features, just so they can one-up the others. I suspect these features are probably buggy, interact with each other in unpredictable ways, are rarely used and poorly understood by the masses. Python may have a lot of "features", but if it's 34x slower than the Euphoria *interpreter*, do you really care? I'm still waiting to see a fast action game written in Python or Perl. 2. Libraries One of the great strengths of Euphoria, compared to Python, Perl, or other interpreted languages, is that that the standard libraries, and most other important add-on libraries, Win32Lib etc., are all (heaven forbid!) written in Euphoria. In Python they have some kludgy API that lets people write extensions in C, since it's obvious to everyone that Python itself would be far too slow. This means that *all* Euphoria users can potentially write important libraries and tools, where performance matters, whereas in Python, you need to be a C expert and a Python expert, as well as learning the strange API. This bodes well for the future expansion of cool things that you can do in Euphoria. While I think the core should remain small, I'll be very happy to see lots of libraries developed. 3. Interpreter Source Code Releasing the source code was a bit of a two-edged sword. Although I'm giving away a few secrets, and there will be several different versions of Euphoria created, I think this is a powerful way to inject a blast of creativity into the Euphoria world, and some source holders have said that they will port to some interesting platforms. (nothing to announce yet). Ray Smith writes: > I also think RDS should have an official documented plan for the > future of Euphoria. "planning" stifles creativity. People should not focus so much on what I'm going to do. My job is to stimulate, and harness the creativity of the Euphoria community. I can't predict what's going to happen. Think of a big pot of boiling, bubbling chemicals and DNA. Things will either explode, or else some creature from the "X Files" is going to crawl out. Regards, Rob Craig Rapid Deployment Software http://www.RapidEuphoria.com _end forward_ On 0, Brian Broker <bkb at cnw.com> wrote: > > Just search for "planning stifles creativity" by Robert Craig in Feb. of > 2002... > > http://www.listfilter.com/cgi-bin/esearch.exu?fromMonth=2&fromYear=7&toMonth =2&toYear=7&postedBy=Robert+Craig&keywords=planning+stifles+creativity > > > -- Brian > > Jonas Temple wrote: > > Kat wrote: > > > > > But he did that last year on this list. > > > > I must have missed it. Rob, if you still have this could you repost or > > reproduce? I would be very interested to read... > > > > Jonas > > > > jbrown, _Linux_ Lover, _Linux_ User 190064 running on _Linux_ Machine 84163 --