[haiku-development] Re: Ada Compiler?
- From: Jack Small <jaxs@xxxxxxxx>
- To: haiku-development@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 17:22:20 -0700
On Sep 6, 2009, at 10:14 PM, Ryan Leavengood wrote:
> At this point we don't have the resources to support languages that
> are not C or C++.
At this point it is understandable.
I don't know that fully dynamic binding to C++ is possible, at least
I've never seen it. This means that the only way to really write a
"native" Haiku GUI app is to use C++. Which is still understandable
at this point. Unfortunately that means that other languages cannot
use the GUI so they will have to write their own wrapper classes and C
API. Yes it is a lot of work, but it that's what it takes to get on
Haiku then we are willing to do it. But honestly my C++ skills, and
my familiarity with the GUI API, pales in comparison to the people who
have written it. Their insights and hindsight would include things
that simply cannot be gleamed from the manuals, even as beautiful as
they are.
I'm not asking to rewrite the API in C, but just to make it possible
to use the API from C. A roadmap, guidelines, or any other hints on
doing that will greatly enhance the process. Without that, we'll end
up with multiple, competing, add-on libraries which may have no
resemblance to the authors original intentions and ultimately loose
the advantages of the native GUI. Or you'll have a single, blessed
language that will never really interact with others.
Yes, I am a biased 3rd party language developer but honestly all we
want to do is use our language to write awesome Haiku apps. The only
real blocker issue for us is the GUI API.
Haiku offers us something unique: autonomy. Our little language has
been stomped out of existence half a dozen times and yet we keep,
well, hoping to move the rubber tree plant. We could finally offer
our users a stable foundation that runs on modern off-the-shelf
hardware. We could finally get out of all the "black boxes" and
actually spend time enhancing the language not chasing shadows. I
cannot speak for the official company but I can tell you that at a
personal level we will move mountains if it means the survival of the
language. That's how we got here.
Like all languages we can bring something unique to Haiku. The
absolute last thing I want to do is start any conflict about who has
the biggest syntax. In fact all I really want is to avoid any
disparity while maximizing choices.
This isn't something that needs to be decided right now. However
after R1 a decision on this needs to be made one way or another. If
Haiku will only ever support C++ we need to know that now.
More later,
Jack
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