My opinion -as an end user & as programmer with medium experience- is that the
phone should implement a stable version of a known& widelly accepted scripting
language and it should stick with it.
That way the masses of users & developers will have a stable point of
reference. If they don't like it they can change it and use whatever they want
(but they would have to include CLEAR step-to -step instructions for
installation).
-If perl version X1 is implemented it should stay -even if there is a newer &
better version of perl. All the programmers should have perl ver X1 as
reference even if ver X2 is out and its better with lots of bug fixes.
Sometimes there are incompabilities between different version of languages.
**Most low-experienced programmers don't want to lose their creativity on
thinking whether their program will work in newer/older language versions **
-If someone wants to program to version X2 he should state in his software that
ver X2 is required and should be installed. End users will end up with 2 perl
distributions but everyone would still be certain that if they use ver X1 it
will work -and that is what the non-proffesional programmers might want.
-Personnaly I prefer having a point of reference language version that I know
that whatever I write will work-no matter what (even with bugs) ,than having a
language which I can upgrade every month with critical patches & other bug
fixes. This is very important if you don't want unexperienced users coplaining
about icopabillity problems.
-If someone wants to write a very important application which depends on
stabillity he can write it in whichever language or version he wants - Its
important ,though,to include CLEAR installation instructions (with links to all
needed stuff) for non advanced users.
-If someone writes something in the suggested standard ver.X1 and want to use
an add-on or a bug fix he should include it in his distibution package -or
link it (if there are size/copyright issues).
I think perl is a tested & widelly supported language with lots of add-ons.
Maybe language xxxx is better but I bet that most users are using perl atm.
Summarizing:
1. Decide which version of a tested & widelly accepted script-language will be
used and will be pre-installed (I suggest perl).
2. Whoever want to use another version/language should include CLEAR
instalation instruction (step-by-step) for the end-users.
3. Compabillity & stability are keywords to getting the attention on the masses
of end-users or wannabe programmers.
!!! -General comment : Please if you want to comment things that are irrelevant
to a subject topic (eg the GNU/Linux wars) ,please do so in a different topic.
Thanks
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