From: rubyhacker@...
Date: 2005-07-19T01:20:55+09:00
Subject: Re: Refactoring Tycho API - Opinions wanted

James Britt wrote:
>
> My comment is not on the API (which I confess I have not the time right
> now to look at) but at your approach. Is this meant primarily for people
> end-users, or code end-users?
>
> I ask because if people are the main target then perhaps the UI should
> be driving the API, or at least the feature set (and through that the API).
>

That's a very reasonable comment and a fair question.

The API serves a dual purpose.

First of all, it does indeed make Tycho scriptable both internally and
externally. So in that sense it is intended for people (and is a kind
of user interface itself like any other API).

The second purpose is to encapsulate or package all the operations that

might be performed programmatically on the data. This allows separate
testing and debugging of these features. One problem I ran into before
was that I was trying to work on the GUI and the API at the same time.
They became entangled in my mind and thus in the code.

My thought is that the scripting API would probably be a superset of
what the GUI itself needs. At any rate, the overall behavior of the GUI
is fairly well thought-out and will not change drastically. There will
certainly be details to iron out -- arrangement of menus, ordering of
items, what if I right-click here, etc.


Hal