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000109_icon-group-sender _Thu Dec 9 18:37:18 1993.msg
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Received: by cheltenham.cs.arizona.edu; Fri, 10 Dec 1993 09:27:02 MST
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 93 18:37:18 CST
From: johnp@utafll.uta.edu (John Paolillo)
Message-Id: <9312100237.AA21260@utafll.uta.edu>
To: icon-group@cs.arizona.edu
Subject: An immodest proposal
Status: R
Errors-To: icon-group-errors@cs.arizona.edu
Hi, folks, I've been doing some thinking about what it
would take to get a really great implementation of my
favorite language (Icon, of course) on my favorite
platform (mac). While the current implementations
are useful for most tasks, they have certain limitations
which make it hard for me to utilize much of the potential
that is there. MPW icon is not feasible for me (who has
MPW?), and the standalone version has a clunky interface.
ProIcon has a nice interface, but it lacks (as does the standalone)
features that are necessary for some things (e.g. if one wants to
do idol, one must have a "system" command that works).
The idea that occurred to me was that it might be possible
for someone clever to implement icon as an OSA (Open Scripting
Architecture) extension for the mac. Three such languages
(AppleScript, UserTalk, and TCL) now exist. The concept
behind them is something like batch processing -- they
manage the functions of the mac user interface through inter-
applications communications. the "scripts" written in these
languages function like applications in the mac environment
(you double-click them, drag things onto them, etc.).
So part of my idea is that if Icon for mac were designed in
the same way ("OSAIcon"), one could run icon programs
in a manner analogous to direct execution under Unix or Dos
environments (something I would really like).
There are other potential benefits, too. The programmer
implementing Icon on the mac would not have to be concerned as
much with the peculiarities of the mac user interface. There
are already OSA "scripting extensions" which handle some of that,
and other applications (that support inter-application communication)
would provide the rest. One would be able to use icon to drive
or process data in other applications (e.g. databases, word processors
graphics programs, etc.), something I would really like to do.
And maybe I could convince a linguistics department just how useful
Icon really is. Can someone comment on whether what I am suggesting
is reasonable? Is there anyone out there with the time and the
ability to do this? Sorry to have gone on so long.
John C. Paolillo
Linguistics Program
University of Texas at Arlington