> Tim Bates : On the HyperCard list when discussing QTML, many people
> noted that what we want is not HyperCard, but hypertalk, the ability
> to speak English about objects.
Alain : Where I am concerned, you're absolutely right, Tim. It's
HyperTalk that has made me a HyperCard loyalist. And it's why I am still
using HyperCard 2.2, in black & white.
> Tim Bates : Of course the cards model is enticing, but equally it is
> restrictive.
Alain : Right again. Simple but somewhat out-moded.
> Tim Bates nivce> In the web age, i wonder if the web browser is not a
> better metaphor than the rolodex?
Alain : A browser metaphor would be nice ! What do you think of the
idea that the web site of our OpenCard collaboration look & feel like
HyperCard too ?
> Tim Bates : If that view is accepted, in many ways opencard 2000
> involves making hypertalk into an extensible browser control language.
Alain : That would suite ME fine, but I believe that most programmers
that have joined this initiative are presently considering a standalone
app written in C/C++ that is not necessarily web-oriented. It is
difficult to ignore the Web though, eh !
> Tim Bates : Two quick ways to achieve this, would be to:
> a. build an opentalk parser which spits out javascript.
Alain : Easy to do. I could do that.
> b. write the opentalk device in Java
Alain : Java is out of my league. Learned it. Tried it. I couldn't even
achieve a simple dialog box comparable to HC's "ask" command with Java
after several days of trying.
> Tim Bates : Java on Mac is already connected to OSA.
Alain : This is interesting, particularly for those among us who are
"real" programmers. By using Java, we could thus make OpenCard OSA
scriptable. Definitely a desirable feature.
> Tim Bates : Another way to be considered might be to model opentalk
> on php3 Tangentially, have you guys seen php3? This is very
> applescript-like, right down to a highlighting parser and no variable
> declarations.
>
> <http://www.htmlwizard.net/interview.html>
> <http://www.php.net/>
Alain : I have never heard of php3. Good thing you provided some URLs.
Thank you. i wilkl consult these sites as soon as I find some "spare"
time.
> Tim Bates : Points in favour: 1. Nobody needs to install a runtime
> for opentalk: Just fire up your browser and point it at the php3-like
> opentalk server.
Alain : Excellent.
> Tim Bates : Points in favour: 2. This server can be local, of course,
> blurring the client-server model beyond relevance.
Alain : Of course.
> Tim Bates : Points in favour: 3. Decoupled server more readily ported
> to other open platforms (Linux).
Alain : Excellent. That's what the Internet was designed to do.
> Tim Bates : Points in favour: 4. Hundreds of millions of $ are being
> spent building our client for us (by AOL and Micro$oft). We are
> assured of having an extremely high quality layout engine maintained
> indefinitely.
Alain : While it makes us somewhat tributary of these vendors, it's
still an excellent short-term bootstrapping strategy - to get up and
running quickly. My preference is for Netscape's browser, however,
because they are OpenSource too.
> Tim Bates : PS regarding using Perl to develop HyperCard, I say that
> OpenCard should
> be written in C, just like Perl ;-).
Alain : PERL is written in C. I should have guessed !
