There's been a lot of discussion about "Cocoon Blocks" and "Extending the build system for modules" recently. It seems to me that (whatever they're called) they are essentially the same thing (or should be). At least, ideally these optional build modules should include the necessary metadata (WSDL etc) so that for instance they can appear as "Cocoon Blocks" and be assembled in a hypothetical Coco-IDE. Is that right? I hope I'm not confusing these 2 things.
Ola Berg suggested "CApps" but it seems to me that these modules are not (necessarily) full applications - they may be only components, skins, portals, webmail engines, directories, renderers and browsers for various source DTDs, etc. So I think "app" or "capp" promises too much - it may be an App, but it may be only part of an App. I think Geoff's suggestion of the name "plugin" is good; better than "ingredient" because of the "electrical" connotations of "plugging in" - a "plug-in" is a thing like a PC expansion card or a silicon chip. I think the name should have a hint of "engineering" to it, which "ingredient" doesn't have. I know "block" is supposed to suggest a module of electronics, but for many people a "block" has more the connotation of a "brick" - a static lump of clay, not something active. Perhaps "mechanism" or "engine"? The metaphor should be compatible with "pipeline" IMHO, which would be +1 for "engine" because real engines contain lots of pipelines. And "engine" has a long history in computing - going back to the 1840s! In software engineering the term "engine" is quite often used to refer to large components. Thinking of a system I developed recently, I could decompose it into an "image-scaling engine", a "TEI to HTML convertor engine", a "skinning" engine, etc. Cheers Con > -----Original Message----- > From: Geoff Howard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Sunday, 18 August 2002 01:19 > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > Subject: RE: Extending the build system for modules > > > has anyone suggested "plugin" yet? > > Geoff Howard > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
