home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Columbia Kermit
/
kermit.zip
/
newsgroups
/
misc.19971216-19980424
/
000152_news@newsmaster….columbia.edu _Mon Feb 2 15:38:42 1998.msg
< prev
next >
Wrap
Internet Message Format
|
2020-01-01
|
4KB
Return-Path: <news@newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu>
Received: from newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu (newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu [128.59.35.30])
by watsun.cc.columbia.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id PAA00211
for <kermit.misc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu>; Mon, 2 Feb 1998 15:38:41 -0500 (EST)
Received: (from news@localhost)
by newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id PAA23785
for kermit.misc@watsun; Mon, 2 Feb 1998 15:38:41 -0500 (EST)
Path: news.columbia.edu!watsun.cc.columbia.edu!fdc
From: fdc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Frank da Cruz)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.kermit.misc
Subject: Re: Expect and Kermit (was: Re: frequent timeouts!)
Date: 2 Feb 1998 20:38:40 GMT
Organization: Columbia University
Lines: 65
Message-ID: <6b5asg$ia1$1@apakabar.cc.columbia.edu>
References: <6ao98e$p4h$1@apakabar.cc.columbia.edu> <gerlachEnK1G9.IBG@netcom.com> <6avf8d$hmd$1@apakabar.cc.columbia.edu> <ncj3ei1redz.fsf@nytrdc058.eq.gs.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: watsun.cc.columbia.edu
Xref: news.columbia.edu comp.protocols.kermit.misc:8335
In article <ncj3ei1redz.fsf@nytrdc058.eq.gs.com>,
Russ McManus <mcmanr@nytrdc058.eq.gs.com> wrote:
: one straight forward way to make the kermit script language more
: powerful is to not do it, but make it possible for others to do it.
:
: what i am imagining is the core kermit functionality compiled into
: libkermit.a. then the kermit script language would be an interpreter
: that dropped down into calls to libkermit.a.
:
: this would allow a guile enthusiast such as myself interface guile to
: kermit, and use scheme to write reliable communication programs. i'm
: sure the perl, python, and tcl folks would build interfaces to
: libkermit.a also. then, when someone wants to write a hairy kermit
: script, they can do it in their 'lingua franca'.
:
That's certainly one approach, but quite frankly we're not interested in
it, because...
: this raises portability problems...
:
Right. Kermit scripts are portable. If you take away the scripting
language, there is no more common ground.
Also, libraries are not portable; the very library mechanism is not
portable.
: (guile doesn't work on every platform)...
:
Nor does Expect, Tcl, Perl, etc etc...
: ... and portability is of course one of the major goals
: of the kermit project. the kermit script language that compiles with
: the core package would continue to be ultra-portable, of course, and
: the upside is that this strategy might greatly increase the use of
: kermit overall.
:
Increased use of Kermit overall does not pay the bills of the Kermit Project,
so what good has been done if everybody is using "Kermit" in some form, but
there is nobody here to answer their questions and keep up with their demands
-- which is pretty much what we do all day (and night).
The bare fact is, there *is* no "core" functionality. See the much
referenced FAQ item 30, about "Is there a Kermit library?":
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/faq.html
ftp://kermit.columbia.edu/kermit/faq.txt
No two people will ever agree on what constitutes the core; each one will want
one more function added in. So before you know it, the core is the whole
thing. And that begs the question of the "API" -- what is the API to a
program that has 100,000 functions?
Should it be a Delphi 2.0 component? Of course. Should it also be a Windows
95 DLL? Definitely. A Windows NT DLL? Natch. For the Alpha too? And the
Power PC? What about OS/2? Windows 3.1? Yes to all those. Should is also
be an Active X control? A Netscape Plugin? A Solaris 2.6 dynamic libary? A
VBX? An OCX? A Java object? Of course! A embeddable module for realtime
systems? Yes, that too! But wait, is it Buzzword 1.0 compliant? Not yet.
Quick, make it happen!
How much should it cost? It should be free, naturally!
Hey, it's all yours, go to it :-)
- Frank