Re: gEDA-user: Switch gschem to another scripting language?

[Kai-Martin Knaak <kmk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:24:18 -0500, Stuart Brorson wrote:

> 2.  Use as a language one can use to automate various actions in gschem.
>  This is probably closer to the way Eagle users think about scripting
> Eagle.
> 
> IMO, Scheme is an excellent language for use 1.  Other languages aren't
> really suited to creating netlists as easily.

Fair enough. 
If the tool is fits the purpose, it should be used for this purpose.

I haven't been able to locate information on the way the C part of 
gnetlist is supposed to communicate with the scheme backends. Maybe I am 
just partially blind. Any pointers, short of "read the source"? 
 

> OTOH, if
> somebody actually stepped up and added a TCL interpreter to libgeda

An interpreter that resides in libgeda adds to the load of software to be 
maintained. It has to mirror development of the language of choice, else 
geda ends up with its own, special dialect. Doesn't sound attractive to 
me, be it scheme, TCL, python, or any other scripting language. 

Maybe, there is a better, more flexible way: gschem (and pcb, too)  might 
provide an interface that listens to commands sent to it through pipes by 
external applications. I got to know this technique with grace, a data 
plotting tool. Although the application is GUI driven by tradition, it 
can also be telecontroled by a C program. Everything a user might do in 
grace via the GUI corresponds to a command that can be sent by the C 
program. This is a lot like the actions in pcb. Grace treats commands 
from the GUI the same as commands through the pipe. E.g. the 
visualization can be tuned by the user while data pours in through the 
pipe.

This approach minimizes the effort at libgeda. It just has to provide the 
receiving end of the pipe. Adaption to yet another scripting language 
wouldn't need any change on behalf of libgeda. All that needs to be done 
is to train the interpreter of the shiny new language to output geda 
commands to the pipe. Note, that this approach is not confined to 
interpreted languages. Compiled binaries can access this way, too.

---<(kaimartin)>---
-- 
Kai-Martin Knaak
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