From: "Hal E. Fulton" <hal9000@...>
Date: 2002-09-05T18:59:55+09:00
Subject: Re: New list: ruby-modules - for module developers...

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nikodemus Siivola" <tsiivola@cc.hut.fi>
To: "ruby-talk ML" <ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 4:34 AM
Subject: Re: New list: ruby-modules - for module developers...


> On Thu, 5 Sep 2002, Hal E. Fulton wrote:
>
> > Hmm. I wonder if someone should make an "email client library" to handle
> > the common stuff... then it would be simpler for people to develop these
> > things, and there would be more to pick from.
>
> What would you expect from such a library -- what would be your dream API,
> so to speak?

I'm as yet too ignorant (of MIME and such things)
to answer that fully.

Some things would be:
1. Encoding/decoding attachments
2. Handling PGP
3. Integrated approach to POP3, IMAP, SMTP; I find
   that our SMTP library is especially obtuse
4. Import/export for various tools (such as Outlook)
5. Conversion of HTML to plain text? Vice versa?
6. Address book management (via database?); should
   aid in name/address completion also
7. Config-file or option management (database?)
8. Folder/sub-folder management (database)
9. A nice message API (for the person writing the
   client and possibly passed on to the user), e.g.
      @msg.delete if @msg.keywords.include? "Britney"
10. Things like message quoting and signatures are
    problematic because they interact closely with
    the editor; and what do we do about the editor?

That would be a huge step forward. I am a good coder,
but a much better dreamer.

Hal