RE: [Wxruby-dev] RE: about wxruby

[Bob Calco]

Curt's correct - we can use some help.

The key to getting Cable (http://public.kitware.com/Cable/HTML/Index.html)
to work is development of a Ruby generator. Basically, Cable relies on
GCC_XML to "compile" the C++ library to XML; the once and future Ruby
generator would then be able to parse the XML and generate the wrapper code.

This gives you complete control over how to wrap arbitrarily complex C++
code for extension to your favorite script language. (SWIG has certain
limitations and the interface files are a pain in the wa-toozi.) Because the
inventors of Cable are TCL fans, they have a complete wrapper generation
engine for TCL, and the source has been helpful to me in figuring out how to
write the Ruby generator. As Curt says, juggling the whole full-time work
and family thing is tough, but we refuse to give up!

Any suggestions, contributions, and otherwise ideas are welcome. :)

Sincerely,

Bob Calco

%% -----Original Message-----
%% From: address@hidden
%% [mailto:address@hidden Behalf
%% Of Curt Hibbs
%% Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 6:40 AM
%% To: Richard Lin
%% Cc: Bob Calco; Curt Hibbs; wxRuby
%% Subject: [Wxruby-dev] RE: about wxruby
%%
%%
%% Great! We could definitely use help as both Bob and I (the only
%% two people
%% on the project) are also working on the FreeRIDE project (plus
%% regular work,
%% family, etc.) -- so we are spread pretty thin.
%%
%% The wxRuby project wiki is at: http://www.wxruby.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl.
%% However, at present, this is mostly a shell of a project site with very
%% little in the way of real content.
%%
%% and the wxRuby CVS repository and mailing list are on Savannah
%% (you can find
%% the mailing list at:
%% http://savannah.nongnu.org/mail/index.php?group=wxruby).
%%
%% A brief history:
%%
%% - Bob Calco started wxRuby.
%% - I later joined Bob.
%% - Park Heesob donated a partially working port of wxPython (uses SWIG).
%% - The project was put on hold in Oct to focus on the FreeRIDE release.
%%
%% Bob and I wanted to avoid using SWIG interface files by having SWIG just
%% read the wxWindows header files. This would minimize the effort
%% required for
%% ongoing maintenance as new versions of wxWindows were released.
%% Unfortunately, SWIG was not sophisticated enough to be able to
%% do this and
%% manually created interface files were found to be necessary.
%%
%% It looks like Cable might be able to do this. If so, we would drop the
%% SWIG-based work and start over with Cable. But, neither Bob nor
%% I have yet
%% had the time to check this out.
%%
%% So, if you're interested, you could investigate Cable (try it
%% out) and help
%% us determine if this is viable.
%%
%% Curt
%%
%%
%%
%% > -----Original Message-----
%% > From: Richard Lin [mailto:address@hidden
%% > Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2002 4:28 PM
%% > To: Curt Hibbs
%% > Subject: RE: about wxruby
%% >
%% >
%% > Sure, It would be cool to join the project because
%% > I really want a working wxRuby.  I think I will read up on
%% > Cable first.  Do you guys have a mailing list where you
%% > exchange your ideas or an irc channel?
%% >
%% > Richard
%% >
%% > ----- Original Message -----
%% > From: "Curt Hibbs" <address@hidden>
%% > Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2002 15:17:43 -0800
%% > To: "Richard Lin" <address@hidden>
%% > Subject: RE: about wxruby
%% >
%% > > Richard Lin wrote:
%% > > >
%% > > > Hi!
%% > > >   I would like to know the current progress of wxruby, and when
%% > > > the release time would be.  Thank you very much.  I'm really
%% > > > looking forward to this.
%% > > >
%% > > > Richard
%% > >
%% > > Work on wxRuby has been on hold since October while I/we
%% have focused on
%% > > getting the first release of FreeRIDE out the door. The
%% > original motivation
%% > > for starting wxRuby was and still is because we need it for
%% > FreeRIDE (unless
%% > > FOX somehow acquires the missing pisses of functionality
%% that FreeRIDE
%% > > needs).
%% > >
%% > > We currently have a very basic version of wxRuby working under
%% > Windows (but
%% > > with bugs), and it has not yet been ported/tested on any other
%% > platform. We
%% > > also just discovered an alternative to SWIG called Cable
%% > > (http://public.kitware.com/Cable/HTML/Index.html) that looks
%% > like it might
%% > > be much better and less labor intensive than SWIG, so we are going to
%% > > evaluate the possibility of switching to Cable as an interface
%% > generation
%% > > tool. Doing so would set us back at first, but pay off down the road.
%% > >
%% > > Realistically, wxRuby is many months away from an initial
%% > release. Would you
%% > > be interested in in joining the project and helping us out?
%% > >
%% > > Curt
%% > >
%% >
%% > --
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%%
%%
%%
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