[ EFLIB vs. Free Vision for FPK Pascal ]

Hi Daniel Mantione and everybody,

Pierre Phaneuf writes:

...

EFLIB to be crushed by advanced capabilities, extreme flexibility and out-of-this-world performance! ;-)

Daniel Mantione writes:

...

What do you think of making EFLIB as a supplement to the objects unit?

Daniel: yes - and no, depending on how to interprete ;-) your question! EFLIB will never be written to be compatible with Turbo Vision: let me explain why!

The goal with EFLIB is to create a standardized class library. But as Pierre said, we also aim to create an extreme flexibility as well as modularity and code reusability - and simplicity. These are the main goals with EFLIB - not to follow existing standards thus limiting the new thinking and Java-alike solutions, event mechanisms, design patterns and so on.

The only consideration that affect the way EFLIB will evolve is **what is the best solution**. "What is the best backward compatible solution" is of little or no concern (with one exception; backward compatiblity to earlier EFLIB releases starting with the first official release, but that will be a piece of cake when the modular interface is set).

Let me give concrete examples. When classic data structures are designed, we do not look at traditional solutions and try to follow the expectations of the user. Instead, we find the solution we prefer, and try to package that solution in a simple interface and an intuitive design.

Iterator classes for the data structures are one example. Hash table class hierarchy is one. ADT inheritance is yet one.

But there is one thing that may be of interest for you. Since the capabilities of Turbo Vision (or Free Vision) is likely to be a subset of the capabilities of EFLIB, we could (with help from some Turbo Vision enthusiast of course) create classes that ***emulate Turbo Vision*** within EFLIB.

The same goes with other features in EFLIB; for example the extended stream engine to be designed by Pierre Phaenuf or the GUI components to be designed by Aleksandar Dlabac and Miroslav Kharchuk - or anything else.

We could provide a complete set of Turbo Vision (read: Free Vision) classes built on the modular and standardized EFLIB solutions. Thus, we can provide a dual interface so that old users can make use of the new features... But then, I'd rather see that you all learned EFLIB straight from the start... But I guess that never will happen --- ;-)

Best Regards,

Johan Larsson E-MAIL jola@ts.umu.se, EFLIB@ts.umu.se, EFLIB-Developers@ts.umu.se, EFLIB-Users@ts.umu.se HOME http://www.ts.umu.se/~jola/

Also, REMEMBER to check out http://ftp.sunet.se/EFLIB/ for a free application framework - SIMPLY SOPHISTICATED.

Also, Subscribe to the EFLIB mailing lists! See http://www.ts.umu.se/EFLIB/Lists/.