[Oberon] Database

[John Drake]

--- eas-lab at absamail.co.za wrote:

> I too would like to look at it.
> 
> My dream is to salvage some of the labour that's
> gone into many of the 
> n-o applications, but which are not used/usable
> because of minor
> problems - usually documentation.
> 
> The theory (possibly wrong ?) is that when from time
> to time the
> next user who give the application a 'work out', he
> can add his
> refinements via something like CVS/WebDAV.  A bit
> like negative
> entropy: insead of getting dirty by usage, it get
> cleaner by adding
> value - successive refinement [somewhat].
> 
> Some real examples:
> 1. I got the mini-spreadsheet which I needed, to
> handle some
> important work, without having to import/export
> to/from n-o.
> I had to polish up the documentation, so that it was
> easier to
> use the second time - after 9 months non usage.
> 
> 2. I got " SmartDir.Directory " 'privately' and use
> it several times a
> day.  I don't think it's in the suite ?
> 
> If each user has got his own private/aquired tools,
> imagine what
> value can be added by effectively pooling them.
> But his requires a (strict) protocol: like each
> directory of 
> ../contributions/.. must have a README or
> 'description'
> and other naming conventions/rules.
> 
> -- Chris Glur.

Hello Chris,

This time I find myself in 100% agreement with you! 
There is much "orphaned" Oberon code out there.  This
is true for other languages/systems, but the problem
is that the Oberon community is so small that such
orphaned apps could make a big difference.  ETH and
one time released a bunch of "orphaned apps".  When
they did I downloaded a nifty AutoDesk animator
viewer.  That and ONLY movie viewer that I've ever
seen for N-O. (There is a CuSeeMe client for live
video, but that's different).  

I like your proposal for a structured code repository.
 I hope it happens.  Yes there is much code that could
be better documented and/or improved.  Four
dimentional dreams has some nice potential for
example, but it could be improved.  And I've learned
much about Leonardo/Vinci from just messing around
with it.  To this I would add that I wish ETH would
PLEASE consider releasing all orphaned code again.  If
a student does a cool project (like the MPEG decoder
for instance) make it available.  If there are no NDAs
involved and the student isn't planning to make it
commercial then why not let the community as a whole
take a look at it?  Perhaps then the FAQ on BlueBottle
could be updated to say "a database for BlueBottle is
currently under development" rather than "not
available".

Regards,

John M. Drake

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