From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,15267b2c375b45c2 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-10-21 17:28:50 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!204.127.198.203!attbi_feed3!attbi.com!rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3F95CEF3.2070907@comcast.net> From: "Robert I. Eachus" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada Component Registry proposal References: <3F92BEAA.9030004@comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.34.139.183 X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-Trace: rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net 1066782529 24.34.139.183 (Wed, 22 Oct 2003 00:28:49 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 00:28:49 GMT Organization: Comcast Online Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 00:28:49 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:1350 Date: 2003-10-22T00:28:49+00:00 List-Id: sk wrote: > I am not criticizing your proposal since I have not seen it, but > I feel that inventory and integrate *might* produce more results > and interest in terms of not having to start all over again. No disagreement. But doing that inventory is WORK. A lot of it. If I am going to be doing that work, or even a small part of it, I need feedback. A survey that doesn't include the right information, or is not in the right form, is useless. So at this point my plan is: 1) Design a Registry. 2) Build tools to create it, maintain it and reference it. 3) Populate the Registry. 4) Repeat as needed. It might be nice to have "official" standard status for the Registry. But if it exists and the Registry and supporting tools are widely used, it won't matter if it is a de jure or de facto standard. Having said that I have gotten so far as: The Registry should be an XML document. There should be publicly accessable free software that can be used to reference the public registry and private or subset registries. Of course, this software should be written in Ada, and be listed in the Registry. ;-) For this to work, the registry is going to require lots of feedback. As I said, for now I just want to send the very preliminary draft to people willing to read it as XML. Soon I should have the XML solid enough to write a quick XML to HTML converter, and I can post the draft registry in html form also. After that will come a database form with query tools. But notice that the "reference" form of the registry will be an XML document, even if the normal use of it is to update a local database. To misuse a great quote from Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's Oath of Fealty: "Think of it as evolution in action." The whole idea is to create a process that makes reuse of Ada easier. Evolution of the contents of the registry, the registry, and the registry toolset all need to be part of that process. -- Robert I. Eachus "Quality is the Buddha. Quality is scientific reality. Quality is the goal of Art. It remains to work these concepts into a practical, down-to-earth context, and for this there is nothing more practical or down-to-earth than what I have been talking about all along...the repair of an old motorcycle." -- from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig