Mike Meyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>... > Arich Chanachai <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > When the CLR is integrated, it will allow a wide array of problem > > solving choices for uuu users. > > You've missed the point. Allowing a wide array of problem solving > choices is a goal, not a means. Instead of concentrating on adding > langauges, you should be provding an infrastructure that makes adding > langauges simple. The Plan 9 example does this best, as any language > that can do file I/O is supported.
This discussion collides quite nicely with two of the more quoted articles on software development: http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/bongo-bong.html http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html The first of which eventually addresses the issue of how programs communicate with the operating system services and each other, although I'm sure I've seen a more succinct overview from Mr De Icaza on that subject. The second brings up the topic of making things "enterprise-ready" - probably one of the more popular motivations for introducing something like the CLR into a project which doesn't necessarily need it and isn't yet familiar with it. >From what I've seen of Unununium, the motivation for using Python seems to stem from the way Python's runtime system provides services which overlap with those of an operating system; programs can dynamically import code, inspect the properties of such code, and invoke such code reasonably safely (as opposed to the "jump to this memory address" model of lower-level runtime systems), although these features are not unique to Python - the Erlang runtime system is apparently designed for use at this level, and the Java environment (and presumably the CLR) provides introspection and dynamic loading capabilities. I would also imagine that the development of Lisp operating systems and environments was similarly motivated. In contrast, the standard UNIX model of interprocess communication and introspection, extended substantially by Plan 9 and more conservatively by modern UNIX variants, is said to leave something to be desired, and those wishing more informative details about the interfaces exposed by programs and services usually end up putting something more complicated on top - see the emergence of Bonobo, DCOP and D-BUS. Paul -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
