Script Limits

[David Bovill]

On Fri, 2003-08-08 at 04:53, Chipp Walters wrote:

> In order to create the next generation: a new and much faster version of RR,
> we're going to have to remove the 'set the script' command and treat
> Transcript just as other compilers-- like C++, etc..
> 
> Would this make a difference? IOW, if instead of removing features for no
> customer gain (IMHO always a bad idea) they were removing features for
> customer gain.
> 

Doesn't help me or several of the other people that are objecting. The
reason is that we choose MC over the complier approach becasue we can
distribute and have a powerful set of tools to maintain and update code
to a wide user base without paying royalty costs.

Removing the "set script..." ability of standalones / demo removes one
of the most powerful techniques - others are work arounds which may work
in some cases - but over time result in an ugly hack.

For me and I'd say the community it is even worse than that because it
hampers releasing an professional educational product that teaches and
allows students to practice scripting.

This is bad for the product, bad for the MC community (there are plently
of colleges that would take up such tools especially if released open
source as LGPL), and even worse for the longer term health of the
community - as it restricts any "open source" development to licenced
users - which is a contradiction in marketing and probably licencing
terms. 

Open source users will not pay for the ability to start coding and
learning and this is a growing educational market. The 20 line
restriction (freudian slip) works as a compromise - you can code for
free but it's a pain without the licence. Time limited demo's don't
count in this world view.