Tim’s note is reminding me that this year is the THIRTIETH I’ve been using 4D. Kinda stunning.
Roger > On Oct 28, 2017, at 00:21, Tim Nevels via 4D_Tech <[email protected]> > wrote: > > On Oct 27, 2017, at 8:11 PM, David Adams wrote: > >> Plug-ins can yield time (in two flavors) to the scheduler, so they don't >> *have* to be completely blocking. The original PDM code was not re-entrant >> and that's legacy seems to have been haunting us for the 25 years since 4D >> took it on. > > Rumor has it that 4D is building a replacement for the 4D Internet Command > plugin that will be implemented as native 4D commands. It will be like the > new 4D Write Pro implementation. Not a plugin. (Heard it at a 4D Summit from > 4D people.) Unknown if it will be thread-safe, but I would guess it will be. > For sure it will not be blocking like the current plugin. > > They only patch the current plugin so that we can “get by” until this new > work is done. They know the current plugin is not a long term solution. But > to implement a good, long term solution takes time. > > Why do you think they bought the PDM plugin many years ago and did not just > write their own or build it from scratch inside 4D? Because it is not easy. > It is hard work to implement all the capabilities in that plugin and do a > great job. > > Remember that 4D builds things that will last for decades. Think about that. > We are using work that they released decades ago. So any new work needs to be > done with the same care and forward thinking. It has to last for decades > without the need for constant maintenance or rewrites. That has got to be > hard to accomplish. > > 4D, Inc. does not have an unlimited budget. There are only so many engineers > that can get work done. Decisions have to be made. Priorities have to be set. > We may not all agree with their decisions or priorities, but we can > understand them. > > And I forgot to mention that all these decisions have to result in a profit > year after year after year. So far that has happened. For decades. They are > still here and going strong. > > None of us are C++ programmers that have built a code base that runs on macOS > and Windows — which is a constant moving target — and that must have backward > compatibility with 4D code we have written decades ago. An interpreter for a > language and a compiler that makes binaries for both operating systems. It > has got to be a very hard task. Much harder than the kind of work we do with > the results of all that work. Just to give it some perspective. > > We have a great platform here folks. Of course it can always get better. And > I’m sure it will. Nobody can have everything immediately. It all takes time > and money. > > I started making my living using 4D in 1990. 27 years with this great > product. Literally millions of dollars in billable hours over all these > years. I’m glad I got on board this ship and it’s really been a pretty good > ride when I look back. > > I’m looking forward to 4D Summit in 2018 and all the new stuff they will > announce. Looking forward to another 20 years. > > Thanks to Laurent Ribardière for making this all possible. I think we all owe > him, at least I certainly do. > > Here is something fun. Google “4D creator”. See what the first item is. :) > > Tim > > Sent from my iPad > > ********************************************************************** > 4D Internet Users Group (4D iNUG) > FAQ: http://lists.4d.com/faqnug.html > Archive: http://lists.4d.com/archives.html > Options: http://lists.4d.com/mailman/options/4d_tech > Unsub: mailto:[email protected] > ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** 4D Internet Users Group (4D iNUG) FAQ: http://lists.4d.com/faqnug.html Archive: http://lists.4d.com/archives.html Options: http://lists.4d.com/mailman/options/4d_tech Unsub: mailto:[email protected] **********************************************************************
