gEDA-dev: guile-1.8 requirement

[Gabriel Paubert]

On Mon, Jun 04, 2007 at 01:20:46PM +0200, Svenn Are Bjerkem wrote:
> On 6/4/07, Stuart Brorson <sdb at cloud9.net> wrote:
> >
> > I like Python plenty.  The requirements for a Guile replacement are:
> >
> > 1.  Can easily embedd small interpreter into gnetlist.
> > 2.  Language is adapted to handling netlists (i.e. deals with text
> >      well, and one can create reasonable  data structures with it).
> > 3.  Language is well-known in EDA community.
> > 4.  Developers/sponsors of language understand and are sensitive to
> >      the needs of their users.
> >
> > Of the above, only #1 and 3 are questionable to me.  Yes, you can
> > embedd a Python interpreter, but is it small?  (Note that linking to
> > Python doesn't make me happy since it then re-introduces the
> > dependency problem.  Moreover, Python does change from release to
> > release, although it's not as bad as Guile.)
> >
> > As for #3, I don't know if the folks who use gEDA (as opposed to
> > software developers) are up to speed on Python.  I do know that TCL is
> > popular out there with EDA types.  Also, TCL is kinda like Lisp in
> > that it can behave as a functional language.  However, it isn't
> > strictly functional since you can also write procedures with it.
> >
> > Anyway, I don't think we should change, but thinking about
> > alternatives is a fun exercise.  And folks from other projects
> > Googling for info on embeddeding an interpreter into their software
> > might benefit from our experience via reading this thread.
> 
> Ales asked for what to use in new projects. And if he ever put up an
> email voting, I would not vote for guile. I cannot free my mind from
> the fact that Guile is a protest against Tcl and as such will not have
> support from the EDA community.
> 
> Tim Edwards, who does work on xcircuit and magic, uses Tcl as glue
> language after having tried Scheme and Python as embedded languages.

I like Python, but it somewhat bloated (especially some libraries) and 
I always interpret embedded as something more lightweight. Besides that
Python changes a bit too much from release to release for my tastes.

TCL is fine for relatively simple things.

	Gabriel