X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil t nil] ["1385" "Thu" "11" "February" "93" "10:55:26" "+0100" "rolf.lindgren@USIT.UIO.NO" "rolf.lindgren@USIT.UIO.NO" nil "29" "Re: web2c on what platforms" nil nil nil "2"]) Return-Path: Received: from sc.ZIB-Berlin.DE (mailserv) by dagobert.ZIB-Berlin.DE (4.1/SMI-4.0/1.9.92 ) id AA28535; Thu, 11 Feb 93 10:57:40 +0100 Received: from vm.urz.Uni-Heidelberg.de (vm.hd-net.uni-heidelberg.de) by sc.ZIB-Berlin.DE (4.1/SMI-4.0-sc/19.6.92) id AA09063; Thu, 11 Feb 93 10:57:37 +0100 Message-Id: <9302110957.AA09063@sc.zib-berlin.dbp.de> Received: from DHDURZ1 by vm.urz.Uni-Heidelberg.de (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 4467; Thu, 11 Feb 93 10:58:12 CET Received: from DHDURZ1 by DHDURZ1 (Mailer R2.08 R208004) with BSMTP id 1417; Thu, 11 Feb 93 10:58:10 CET Received: from DHDURZ1 by DHDURZ1 (Mailer R2.08 R208004) with BSMTP id 1415; Thu, 11 Feb 93 10:58:08 CET Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project Date: Thu, 11 Feb 93 10:55:26 +0100 From: rolf.lindgren@USIT.UIO.NO Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project To: Multiple Recipients of Subject: Re: web2c on what platforms Status: R X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 976 >>>>> Regarding Re: web2c on what platforms; Frank Mittelbach adds: >> It may be true that, when we would try to re-implement the whole TeX >> system with all its utility programs (as NTS may one day might try to >> do, but please don't start an NTS discussion on this list) then one >> definitely should think about the base language first, eg WEB, CWEB, >> C, C++, smalltalk, .....who knows? The only language worth doing anything in a larger scale is LISP, in this case I'd suggest Scheme LISP. LISP is one of the oldest languages around, having proven its value by being used as core language in a number of great applications, including GNU Emacs and AutoCAD. Scheme LISP is available for free for all computers and operating systems I've ever heard of, from MS-DOS, Macintosh, Amiga and Atari, to UNIX, VMS, etc. Through intelligent application writing in Scheme, one could write the entire system as object-oriented, with all data structures being able to modify all other data structures. Ligatures, kerning exceptions, etc. could be modified on the fly, the objects themselves allowing or disallowing modification of their own internal data structures. There exists a small and consice specification of the core of Scheme, so portability is not a problem if r4rs conventions are followed throughout. Go for Scheme LISP in NTS!