[lazarus]

[michael at tfdec1.fys.kuleuven.ac.be]

On Sun, 27 Jun 1999, Baeseman, Cliff wrote:

> Michael,
> 
>    What we really need to define is a runtime implementation of something
> such as the JVM for our gui development. Perhaps we need to define a common
> interface that can be ported to all platforms. 
> 
> Something like this.   Our code -->  Interface  -->  GUI Subsystem.
> 
> The Interface would be our library dll and the GUI Subsystem would be
> platform code.
> 
> The interface code would likely have to be written in C or in C++ to talk to
> the GUI of the platform on its level.

I disagree. It is perfectly possible to write it in pascal. The RTL is a good
example of this. I am strongly opposed to mixing languages, as it is only
likely to create problems. As an example, I would mention the libc -> glibc
transition in the linux community: It has given us many problems. Not to
mention the a.out -> ELF transition. All C stuff which forces us to adapt
our code for no good reason at all. (I never saw the need to go from libc to
glibc in the first place !!)

Also, if you GUI subsystem changes, you may well have to adapt 2 sets of
code: The pascal set and the C set. Remember the hassle to go from gtk 1.0 to
1.2 !

> 
> This would be a great undertaking but our GUI code would be totally portable
> as long as the Interface definition did not change.
> 
> 
> This is the most flexible arrangement that I can think of...

Agreed, with the exception that I think you can (and should) write your 
interface in pascal.

Michael.