On Oct 28, 2008, at 5:51 AM, marcomaggi wrote:
I see that a socket interface comes built in, and I wonder if it is not better to rely on an external library and the FFI.
No it's not better. Basic useful functionality like files, processes, and tcp/ip sockets are builtins because they provide a uniform functionality across all platforms that Ikarus targets (they behave the same on linux, mac os, bsds, or cygwin). The provided functionality also has minimum dependencies on external libraries, meaning, less effort porting to other OSes (e.g., Open Solaris). It also works well enough and is well integrated with Ikarus's event scheduler for nonblocking asynchronous communication. If you think any of these libraries are good and they fit your needs better than Ikarus's builtin facilities, then by all means do write the library and make it available for anybody who needs them. They will thank you. There is no "one size fits all" here since different people have different needs. So, it doesn't have to be exclusive: "either this or that". You can have both, and use the one that fits better, right? Aziz,,,
