[REBOL] Re: Update: Read *and* Write images against Windows Clipboard
From: greggirwin:mindspring at: 23-Sep-2002 12:27
Hi Scott,
<< 1) IPC ??? ... Using my fine, intuitive mind, I "made up" an
anticipated acronym of "inter process communication", and was then only off
by a small hyphen. >>
Yes, you're right on. And no, it's not a .NET thing. There are many forms of
IPC, some of which I mentioned. Shared memory, pipes, sockets, and command
line arguments are other common mechanisms. IPC, to this layman, is anything
that lets two processes communicate. Sockets are used more often now, it
seems, and they are a good mechanism because they can extend from local use
to intra- and internet use without drastic architectural changes.
Since REBOL is all about communication, I think we'll see new IPC models and
mechanisms built that will be really fabulous.
I don't have any great links handy. Sorry.
<< 2) ARexx
Figuring that this was probably not the uncle of T Rex...>>
Model A versus Model T? :)
<< OK, so reading quickly between the lines, it sounds like the Amiga was
blessed with an advanced scripting language that could listen on a port and
be passed stuff. >>
Yes. Big time. I'm not an Amigan either, and also had a TI994A, by odd
coincidence. Hopefully, if I ever get something going along these lines, RT
and the Amigans out there will chime in to contribute suggestions based on
their experience.
<< I guess if there is a question in here, it would be what do those who are
formally trained in this area see, in an overview sort of way, as the way
REBOL might communicate with this resource-rich server. Maybe this *is*
what the IPC thing is all about, which I will eventually discover once I do
more research. If this answer is immediately obvious to you or a list
member, it would be wonderful to learn more. It would also be great to not
reinvent the wheel and use a method that is generic enough to grow. >>
There are so many ways it could go. One big architectural choice is whether
it's completely peer to peer, or if you have some kind of IPC server process
that helps manage and negotiate things, maybe providing lookup services and
such. There's definitely a holy grail hiding in there somewhere. :)
In some cases, a specific dialect would be the way to go. If, for example,
you have an IDE, plug-in tools could integrate very tightly, and cleanly,
with something tailored to that need. OTOH, it could probably be built on a
very generic system that would be widely applicable. To me, this is a case
where the basic pieces of the infrastructure could (maybe should) be built
in at a lower level and the higher level IPC stuff is basically a bunch of
dialects tuned for specific needs and industries. I see the power of
dialects as something that should be leveraged on both the human and
computer side of things. Imagine the power of the phrase "Any messages?" and
how that single messaged could be processed and passed around by both humans
and processes.
I think we'll see lots of little things appear and, eventually, some kind of
standard will appear. I don't kow that RT can just put something out there
right now though. There are so many ways it could go, we almost have to try
lots of different approaches to see what works well in different contexts.
The first things we see will very likely be modeled on concepts that exist
today, but the really good stuff we haven't even thought of yet.
<< (including the font stuff you generously sent me). >>
Carl Read is taking it to the next level with his font-requester stuff. Very
cool!
<< 4) Finally, and this is more of a question to myself, I wonder whether it
wouldn't be better to take the approach you are taking, and bravely go
through the Windows interface and avoid additional "kruft" (I like clean,
simple things, including installations). >>
Eventually, when the world wakes up and there are zillions of REBOL apps out
there with something like ARexx-meets-MightyMouse (Small, but powerful,
American cartoon character for those unfamiliar), that can tie them all
together across the universe, life will be simpler. :) Until that time,
we'll have layers of kruft (good word :) here and there. If I have a layer
of Windows stuff that lets me control other apps, that's a start, and it's a
point of reference for what works and what doesn't.
I just can't wait until apps have dialected interfaces. :)
--Gregg
