I would *REALLY* like to have a powerful scripting language available by default for use on future LEAF distributions (yes, shell scripting is powerful, it's just lacking a bit in the data manipulation department). Since I'd like for all distributions to include this scripting language, and I want to continue supporting a single floppy disk environment, the first big requirement is small size. Other things I'd like to see:
- Run time extensability (ie ability to dynamically load new libraries & get extra features) - Network socket support - Strong data manipulation capability for both numeric (int & float) and string types - Threads support (optional, but very desired) I'm currently looking at a lot of options, but lua, forth, and rexx seem the most promising (yes, forth and rexx are kind of dated, but the're still usable). Possibilities include: lua forth rexx java scheme ruby python ??? The intent would be to use the new scripting language to implement several functions currently implemented as binary programs, shell-scripts, or not implemented at all. Examples would include: linuxrc boot script packaging system dhcp server/client web server ftp/http/tftp client for loading packages menu-based configuration system e-mail sending utility ??? In a perfect world, I'd use Java, but I don't think it can get small enough. I'm not terribly familiar with recent scripting languages...it's been about 5 years since the last time I directly worked with anything like this, and we wound up using "bob", a c-like interpreted language. I know tomsrtbt includes lua, and uses it to implement several core features. Am I missing any major options, and does anyone have strong thoughts about any of the options listed above? Anyone worked with more than one of the above options and have comparisons or comments? Should I axe forth as being too anachronistic, or can people in the 21st century still understand something so ancient? Charles Steinkuehler http://lrp.steinkuehler.net http://c0wz.steinkuehler.net (lrp.c0wz.com mirror) _______________________________________________ Leaf-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-devel
