Subj : Re: I have an Idea
To   : echicken
From : Fireball
Date : Mon Feb 11 2013 05:22 pm

>   Re: Re: I have an Idea
>   By: Fireball to echicken on Thu Feb 07 2013 21:34:10
>
>  Fi> I know a little about python (it's been a long time since I messed
>  Fi> with it) and almost nothing about javascript. It would be nice to see
>  Fi> some support for python in sbbs as well (even if via a 'shim'). It's
>  Fi> not near as hard to learn and also very powerful. :)
>
> I don't know.  "Hard to learn" is totally subjective.  I know a little bit
> of Python and I wouldn't really say it's easier (or harder) to pick up than
> JS - just different.
>

I guess what I meant to say is it seems less readable and more complicated to
me. For those that are familiar with with C++ or Java, it wouldn't be hard to
pick up. I was able to start writing in python almost right away, with a
little reading and tutorial. I have yet to see a good tutorial on JS, and I
haven't found a good guide to command line JS operation either.

> JS - with the objects and classes provided by Synchronet - is actually
> quite powerful, and we've been able to do a lot with it.  I'd rather see
> one well-supported native scripting language in a project like this than a
> handful of options, many of which would be under-used and not fully
> implemented.  Any new scripting environment would not benefit from the huge
> amount of JS stuff available for Synchronet already.
>

I understand where you're coming from. I'm sure JS has it's advantages, but
then so does Python. Both are mature OOP languages. One was made for web
environments while the other was made for other uses. I think my biggest issue
is, even with all the sbbs JS examples I've been over in the last few days, I
still can't figure out how it works.

> Of course, for your "shim" one could conceivably write an API in JS to
> expose all kinds of data from Synchronet, then interact with it from stuff
> written in their programming language of choice.
>

One could conceivably make a python methods available to a program by
including the Python.h. Alternatively, using python ctypes and
creating/importing the synchronet definitions as a library could provide a lot
of useful information for making sbbs python scripts (doors and utilities).

> If Python really is your thing, there is somebody working on a Python-based
> BBS: http://1984.ws/.  On the other hand, there's no need to change
> software just because you don't want to learn JS - Synchronet already has
> an alternative by the name of Baja. :D
>

I'm not looking to change completely. I like Synchronet and it's many
features, just not real thrilled with the learning curve of JS.

Fireball
-=Fireball=-

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