From: Phil Jackson <phil@...>
Date: 2006-05-01T08:25:37+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby based editor

On Mon, May 01, 2006 at 07:38:40AM +0900, Randy Kramer wrote:
> On Sunday 30 April 2006 11:00 am, Phil Jackson wrote:
> > Let me know your thoughts (which aren't allowed to include "do we really
> > need another editor" :)).
> 
> Ok, I won't ask that in quite that way, but:

I think you may have mis-understood my question (or I didn't explain
properly), what I was asking was more a design question than a general "I'm
building yet another editor what do you think" question. As you took the
time to write a response I'll answer you though (check bottom where I
re-phase my query):

>    * What is your goal for this editor--is it a learning project or intended 
> to eventually be a "product" in some sense?  

Both, I'm very interested in editors and find myself downloading new ones as
they arrive and playing with them (though I'm an avid Vim user).

>    * Is it to be as full-featured as Emacs or more like Notepad?  

Well, the idea is to write the base of the editor in C and have the API
almost completely available to Ruby. So, theoretically, it could be as
full-featured as Emacs or as simple as Notepad. ;)

> If I was going to expend effort on an editor, I'd work on nedit.  It is 
> written in C, is very featureful and fast, etc.  It includes a C-style/based 
> macro language, keystroke recording to start macros, syntax highlighting, 
> autoindent, etc., etc., etc.  

To be honest I'd like to start from scratch and see what I come up with,
secondly I _hate_ GUI based editors personally.

What I was actually trying to ask was:

The base will be written in C not in pure Ruby. I would like to know whether
people think I would be better using C types at the core or Ruby types
implimented in C. So, I can, A),  write a basic editor in C and then wrap it
up with Ruby using Data_Wrap_Struct() much like an extenstion would. Or I
can, B), start from the beginning with rb_define_class() and friends thus
relying on Ruby from the start. The advantages and dis-advantages that I
think may exsist:

a) advantages:
    * The core of the application would be instantly reconisable to a C
      hacker who has no Ruby experience.
    * If I decide it should be extendable by another language it would be a
      simple job.
    * Better performance?

   disadvantages:
    * I would have to impliment and then map things like linked lists
      meaning wheel re-invention.
    * more work :)
    * Can't rely on libruby for memory handling.

So which one?

Phil