From: Curt Hibbs <curt@...>
Date: 2002-01-09T02:32:11+09:00
Subject: An Update on the FreeRIDE Project

I wanted to give everyone an update on where we are with the FreeRIDE
project (FreeRIDE is a cross-platform, internationalized IDE for Ruby).

We have a wiki devoted to the FreeRIDE project that can be found at:

	http://www.rubyide.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl

Below, I've pasted the text from two of our wiki pages (the FAQ page, and
the News page) to let you know where we are.

Regards,
Curt Hibbs

=====================================================
FreeRIDE FAQ

== What is FreeRIDE? ==

The FreeRIDE project was formed to create an IDE
(IntegratedDevelopmentEnvironment) for the Ruby programming language.

== Why not just use one of the existing Ruby IDEs? ==

The existing Ruby IDEs have much more modest goals than FreeRIDE.

FreeRIDE aims to be a first-class IDE on par with those available for other
languages. These goals include:

* Cross-Platform      -- FreeRIDE will run on as many platforms
                         as possible.
* International       -- FreeRIDE will be easily translated into
                         other languages and will include features
                         that make it easier to develop Ruby
                         applications that can be internationalized.
* Plugin Architecture -- FreeRIDE's plugin architecture will make
                         it easy for any developer toextend the
                         features of FreeRIDE.
* Extreme Programming -- FreeRIDE will include features that make it
                         easy to use many practices that have been
                         popularized by the Extreme Programming method.
                         This will include collaboration support for
                         remote pair programming, unit testing support
                         for test-first coding, refactoring support,
                         and more.
* Code Editing        -- All the now-standard code editing and
     & Navigation        navigation features you would find in any
                         high-end IDE, including syntax highlighting,
                         code completion, template expansion, class
                         browsing, etc.

== That's Great! When can I use it? ==

We can't answer that at the moment. The FreeRIDE project is just getting off
the ground in January of 2002, and it all depends on how many developers
volunteer to work on FreeRIDE, and how much time they have to give. If you
are interested in helping to develop FreeRIDE, check out our DeveloperList
page for information on how to volunteer.

=====================================================
FreeRIDE News

January 8, 2002 -- A Good Start

I know that those interested in FreeRIDE would prefer to be using it
already. But we are off to a good start. Even though it may not be visible,
there is a lot of activity:

* RichKilmer continues to be a mainstay of the FreeRIDE effort. In addition
to contributing a significant amount of useful code from his other projects,
and in addition to contributing his energy and time on the design of
FreeRIDE, he has also been working with Lyle Johnson to get the FOX port of
Scintilla into the FXRuby distribution.

* [vruz] recently joined the project has been devoting considerable energy
toward making sure that FreeRIDE not only cross-platform, but also
cross-national (oops, I mean International).

* HalFulton, PhlIp, myself (CurtHibbs) and others have been contributing
their ideas on what FreeRIDE should be (and what it should not be). I have
been trying to get all of this organized in the FreeRIDE wiki in a manner
that will let us move forward with a minimum of fuss.

This seems to be the right time for FreeRIDE to begin, as many crucial,
synergistic things are happening right now -- just when they are needed. I
already mentioned FXScinitlla above. RubyGems? is another critical building
block for FreeRIDE, and early versions have just now been released.

Since I am, personally, very new to Ruby I continue to be amazed by the Ruby
community (and now the nascent FreeRIDE community, as well), and I sometimes
feel unqualified to assume the role I have taken on here. But, we've got
some really fine developers working to make FreeRIDE a reality, and I am
confident that we will make rapid progress.

Of course, we can always use more help. So, if you are interested in working
on FreeRIDE, please let us know (check out the DeveloperList to see how).

I will do my best to post to this page regularly to keep everyone informed
about the state of the FreeRIDE project. But I'm not making any promises, as
real work on FreeRIDE is the priority.

-- CurtHibbs