On 26-Aug-98 Andrew M. Kuchling wrote:
<SNIP>
>
> Gordian-knot proposal: why not just expose a documented
> C-level API, and SWIG it (http://www.swig.org)? That would win you
> Python, Perl, Guile, and Tcl all at once, and as a bonus, you'd have a
> C-level API for plug-ins that need as much performance as possible.
> Add JavaScript support to SWIG and you'd have all four available.
> Fans of Pike, TOM, or whatever could then write their own interfaces.
>
Nice idea... I really have to think that anything which limits you to one and
only one scripting language is a bad idea. I appreciate Abisource's concern
about support -- but this need not be too bad. If I go out and buy a Sun, Sun
supports the stuff they include. If I go out and get GCC and install it, I
don't expect Sun to support it.
Nor should AbiSource be expected to support me if I decide to plug SNOBOL or
something into AbiWord. Remember that an important part of open source is
freedom to innovate. If ABI's not prepared to let people innovate on something
as central as the scripting language...
In any case, I still think Guile is a better plan although SWIG is not a bad
one.
Patrick
