Hi Geoffrey, > > But what about Python? If I was trying to build a system from > scratch with > the same goals as cmake (as far as I understand that from the > reading that I > have done about it), there is no way on earth I would've started off > by > defining a new language. Especially not a quirky, byzantine > language. Isn't > Python on every platform that cmake is on? Wouldn't it make a lot > more sense > to have used a "real language", with great data structures, and > libraries, > and a module system, and all that?
Introducing scons: http://www.scons.org/ - more or less the same aims then cmake, but all in Python. But at the time when we changed the build system, it just wasn't up to the task. I tried it for one of my bigger projects and failed, since it didn't get the basic things right - e.g. project files for Visual C++. And in my opinion the whole structure to configure things was not well "developed". Although the project was quite "big", it didn't depend on many 3rd party libraries, but the configure files where quite big. And I had to configure things for every operating system I used - this is much better done by cmake. > > I can't help thinking that by the time I figure out how to make > cmake do what > I want, I could have accomplished the same thing in a fraction of > the time if > it was written in a modern/popular system programming language (like > Python, > though there are other languages of other names that could do the > job too). For one platform (Linux) sure. For 3 platforms, no way. Especially since you don't have access to Mac OS X and Windows I believe. At the end, this is the main point of using cmake. It may need more time to get accustomed to cmake, but you get a build system for many operating systems at once. You don't get that, if you do that on your own. CMake is really good in that. You seem not to be interested in other platforms than Linux. That's ok, but I consider that as one of the most important things of open source projects. > > What is my point and why am I bothering to express this viewpoint on > the > list? Mainly that I think most people would find our build system > less > daunting if it were written in something like Python instead of the > cmake-language. If I spend time learning cmake, I only improve my > skills > with the PLplot build system. Nothing else I use (meaning, develop) > uses > cmake. But if I spend time learning more about Python, I can apply > that to a > couple dozen projects I am also involved in besides the PLplot build > system. I needed the same time to delve into scons as into cmake. Mainly because I didn't know Python. So there is only an advantage, if you know python already. And though I learned some Python using scons, it didn't get me interested. > > I think the same analysis would apply to many others. Having the > PLplot > build system written in cmake means many people will never invest > the time to > become proficient at molding and shaping it. Were the PLplot build > system > "cmake-like", but written in Python, I bet a lot more people would > find it > accessible. Since I learned cmake (though PLplot) I use cmake for all my projects. Actually I have to admit it's really great and powerful. Setting up projects is really easy. If I don't know something I look into the PLplot build system, since it's using a lot of things. I'm not an CMake expert as Alan, but what I know is good enough for most things I need. I also could use Makefiles for this. But e.g. the project I'm currently working on runs exclusively on Linux, since I use some PCI card, where there is only a driver for Linux. But I also code on Mac OS X (not in my lab), since I have a Mac there. I set up the CMake build system on Linux, using some 3rd party libraries. Without any changes to the build system also worked on Mac OS X. This wouldn't be possible, when I had used Makefiles, since though Mac OS X is also a *nix variant, it's still different. I invested a lot of time to learn cmake and now I get it back. Good investment for me. Regards, Werner > > -Geoff > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Crystal Reports - New Free Runtime and 30 Day Trial > Check out the new simplified licensing option that enables unlimited > royalty-free distribution of the report engine for externally facing > server and web deployment. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/businessobjects > _______________________________________________ > Plplot-devel mailing list > Plplot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plplot-devel -- Dr. Werner Smekal Institut fuer Allgemeine Physik Technische Universitaet Wien Wiedner Hauptstr 8-10 A-1040 Wien Austria email: sme...@iap.tuwien.ac.at web: http://www.iap.tuwien.ac.at/~smekal phone: +43-(0)1-58801-13463 (office), +43-(0)1-58801-13469 (laboratory) fax: +43-(0)1-58801-13499 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crystal Reports - New Free Runtime and 30 Day Trial Check out the new simplified licensing option that enables unlimited royalty-free distribution of the report engine for externally facing server and web deployment. http://p.sf.net/sfu/businessobjects _______________________________________________ Plplot-devel mailing list Plplot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plplot-devel
