Newsgroups: comp.lang.dylan
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Subject: Re: IO again
References: <34ebld$pp4@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au>
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Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 15:10:22 +0000
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In article <34ebld$pp4@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au>
           ok@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au "Richard A. O'Keefe" writes:

> Perhaps _some_ "IO" is better handled by a persistent store and/or interfacing
> to an OODB (what about object version control?).  But there are dusty data
> decks too...

I suspect that a very large number of users of Dylan apps (for Mac
and Windows platforms) will want traditional I/O systems, with
entities like files and sockets. Without these, a lot of Unix goes
out the window (no pun intended). I don't know what Cairo will look
like when it arrives, but I hope that Dylan can cope. If Cairo
still has files, or things that can be treated like files, then
it'll help existing software to be ported. Perhaps someone who
hasa better idea can comment on that.

Even if we do "give up" files in a few years, it won't hurt Dylan
to support them now. It'll certainly kill a lot of scepticism from
programmers who can't imagine not using files. Not everyone can
believe in persistant storage, or that it can be done "efficiently",
in terms of space or I/O performance. Many still think malloc is
a good idea...

And then there are the few people who've yet to be convinced that
OOP works, and works better than non-OOP. :-) Well, that's enough
negativity! Personally, I love the idea of a completely OO storage
system. I'd just like to see it being done.

It occured to me recently what a fine machine the Rekursiv would
have been for running Dylan. All this time I've been thinking of
it as a Lisp/Prolog/G-machine, and then suddenly it hits me! Perhaps
Linn will fight back when MISC chips turn up?
-- 
Future generations are relying on us
It's a world we've made - Incubus	
We're living on a knife edge, looking for the ground -- Hawkwind
