[openbeos] Re: High-level translator question

>I was reading that BeOS article mentioned earlier and 
>found the concept of Translators interesting.

Yes. The concept was, AFAIK, first done in AmigaOS,
and called DataTypes. :-)

>What I'd like to know is how well does it work 
>in practice? If I have a Translator for Photoshop 
>images, for example, how does it handle layers?
>If a Translator always translates to some intermediate 
>abstract format, how does it handle vendor-specific 
>features? Or are Translators only meant for simple 
>formats like text and monolayer images?

Truth is, they don't handle vendor specific pieces.
That is a downside. The upside is that they abstract
a lot from you. It makes many things, like, say, loading
graphics into a chat program, very easy.

>Ray
>
>

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