Hi, Carl,
Hi, Carl,
Carl Read wrote:
>
> With "free" library access, I'd worry about a lot of online scripts
> appearing that require you to have OS x,y, or z to work, (well, 90%
> OS x, actually), thus breaking REBOL's cross-platform support.
>
Actually, OS X is quite nice. It's essentially a Mach kernel with
BSD Unix above that, with a Macintosh/NextStep GUI environment as
the main user interface.
;-)
OK, seriously...
I tried to make the same point of your comments above during a
previous thread about the "threat" of open source. The claim had
been made that opening the source of the REBOL interpreter was
likely to lead to forking of the language and the immanent demise
of cross-platform compatibility. My response is that ANY access
to system-dependent features (especially such things as binary
libraries) will allow someone to write code that will run on only
a single platform.
OTOH, I question whether that's a significant issue. It's always
possible for a programmer to write something that is so dependent
on a particular set of assumptions, resources, and "world view"
that it's just not worth the trouble to re-use it outside that
regime (and said regime can be as narrow as the mind of the one
who writes it... ;-) I'm much more concerned about whether we
have languages that are so richly applicable and platform-neutral
that they *avoid*forcing* us to write code with all of those
limiting dependencies.
Some of the more successful (in terms of number of users, range
of applications, supporting literature and publications, etc...)
languages, such as Perl, Python, Ruby, and Tcl have the property
that you *can* write platform-neutral code if you want to, but
you can also take advantage of platform-specific resources for
performance or functionality when you deem it appropriate. As
an interpreted, high-level language, REBOL must ultimately offer
access to system-specific resources or remain marginalized with
respect to applications where performance is an issue.
-jn-
--
; Joel Neely joeldotneelyatfedexdotcom
REBOL [] do [ do func [s] [ foreach [a b] s [prin b] ] sort/skip
do function [s] [t] [ t: "" foreach [a b] s [repend t [b a]] t ] {
| e s m!zauafBpcvekexEohthjJakwLrngohOqrlryRnsctdtiub} 2 ]
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