Re: [Bug-apl] APL line editor: proof of concept (c code)

[Juergen Sauermann]

Hi Thomas,

could be a cool thing. One thing that I am missing is a bit
more information of what it exactly does and how it should
integrate with GNU APL (for example).

Currently I am trying to keep keyboard input and fonts
out of GNU APL as much as possible. The reason is that
different platforms (and different users) have different
means and preferences how they get their keystrokes
into GNU APL.

Simply speaking, GNU APL expects an UTF8-encoded byte
stream on stdin and writes an UTF8-encoded byte stream
to stdout.

Even though GNU APL uses libreadline, it can be ./configured
to run without. My personal feeling regarding libreadline is
somewhat mixed; it has saved me a considerable amount of time
initially, but it has also caused problems in areas where I would
not have expected them in the first place (platforms with 8-bil libreadline,
and native language support to name a few).

My current thinking of how a keyboard mapper should work with
GNU APL is that it should be a stand-alone binary, say mapper,
which produces a UTF8-encoded byte stream that can be piped into GNU APL:

mapper <mapper options> | apl <apl options>

The mapper can then be wrapped into a 2-line script which starts the
above pipe, so that the user does not need to do it every time.

The mapper can then either be distributed with GNU APL (if you want to) or
you can put it on your own URI and I can put a link to it in our 
README-3-keyboard
file.




On 02/23/2014 10:30 PM, address@hidden wrote:
> Hi, I created a repository on Github. I also created an animation.
> Please, have a look at https://github.com/baruchel/APLedit
> (then click on apledit.gif and then probably on "raw" in order to
> have it in a larger size).
>
> Please, have a look at this animation and tell me what you think of the idea.
>
> I have to figure out now how I will make it interact with GNU APL
> (either FIFO or wrapper or something else).
>
> Best regards,