Hi, all... [This announcement can be found at http://fig.org/svn/trunk/figure/ANNOUNCE]
I am a software architect working in a highly competitive industry. My company writes application software both for tiny embedded devices, for large distributed systems, and for everything in between. It has been my goal to create a Free Software operating system to support all of these applications, including applications that need to be portable to other operating systems. But first, I needed to find a programming language that could be used to implement it. I have evaluated many programming languages, and settled on the Big Three of distributed programming: Mozart (http://mozart-oz.org/), E (http://e-rights.org/), and Erlang (http://erlang.org/). I found that of the three, Erlang provides the best fit for the features I need, including an elegant syntax. However, Erlang's implementation is licensed such that my company won't want to improve its implementation because too much freedom is given to competitors. I am in the process of implementing a copyleft license, an operating system, and a corporate governence model, all of which uses the same basic design inspired by my informal study of cybernetics. This design is called Figure, and you can find it on my website (http://fig.org/). Its fundamentals have solidified, and currently the rationale and explanation are evolving day by day as I have time to expand them. What is not yet written there is that I am working on implementing Ocean, a dynamic reflexive compiler (like Pliant, http://fullpliant.org/) which is bootstrapped in Erlang (can compile Erlang, and is written in Erlang), and layered on top of the Factor virtual machine (http://factorcode.org/). This is what I regard as the fastest way to design a complete, fully-documented language that is scalable and can compete with C. I want to fully exploit the excellent Erlang documentation as a specification to reduce the learning curve of people wanting to work with Ocean. The only features that I intend to add to Erlang are robust capability-based security, like E (http://erights.org/), and features to allow modules with the right capability to use Factor code directly. I'm writing because I'll be leaving this community shortly to work on Figure and Ocean, and I want people who are interested in these project to make individual contact with me (but be aware that I use an aggressive antispam system, TMDA, which will require you to confirm your message if you don't use the Reply-to header). I will do my best to provide tools so that we can collaboratively document and implement the system. I want to see the valuable wisdom that I have gained through observing your community become part of Ocean (Figure stands alone), but I need to stop spending energy observing so that I can fully work on these projects. The Figure operating system will be compiled by Ocean, they will both be licensed under Figure's copyleft license, and the company owning the copyleft will be run using the Figure governence model. If any of these projects appeal to you, I invite you to contact me. Thank you for your time, and I wish you all the best in your own work. You have been good to me. -- Michael FIG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> /\//\ http://fig.org/michael/ \//\/ _________________________________________________________________________________ mozart-users mailing list mozart-users@ps.uni-sb.de http://www.mozart-oz.org/mailman/listinfo/mozart-users
