>At 07:50 AM 6/6/2003 -0400, David H. Bailey wrote: >>Notation is still a growing field and has yet to mature, as Coda's >>developers learn how to include more aspects of notation control, which >>constantly changes the data structure. >> >>Eventually (soon?) Finale will reach maturity and will be able to maintain >>a constant data structure across releases. > >I can accept that argument to a degree. However, the format will need to >continue to evolve -- maybe not on every single release -- but change in >the data structure is inevitable. MakeMusic really needs to adopt an >"extensible" data structure that will permit forward AND BACKWARD >compatibility. The techniques for this are extremely well known among >seasoned software professionals. When you have the right framework, it is >not a difficult programming challenge.
This is simply not true.
You are very naive to think this is even possible, let alone simple.
>And let me be clear. I'm not suggesting that MakeMusic should spend any >resources doing SaveAs for Sibelius or any other non-Finale product. If I >really need to transport files to Sibelius, I'll work out the MusicXML >procedure. But effective collaboration WITHIN the universe of Finale-based >composers and arrangers dictates that we must have the most straightforward >file sharing across releases.
The way backward compatibility is managed is to allow "save as" to previous versions of the program.
See Microsoft Word for an example.
If a user adds new program items to the file, they are tossed on a previous version save as.
This would be possible to implement and would be all you need. Phil Daley < AutoDesk > http://www.conknet.com/~p_daley
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