Re: [Dgtnix-devel] Serial port on OS X (2)

[Alexander W. <a.w...@ph...>]

Pierre Boulenguez wrote:

Hi!

> I am sorry for the API change. I promise the new API will
> be better and nicer.

I'm sure about this. That's not hte point.

But please keep in mind while desgning the new API to get it
extensible without the need for a major rewrite. This is
what I mean by "stable". dgtdrv is just a simple
application, merely 1000 lines of code. But if you build a
major GUI like eboard or whatever against dgtnix these
changes can really be an issue. Especially as our community
is not really large. Not many people afford the costs for
these boards so for each GUI programmer it is a "nice to
have" but surely not a "vitally important interface" where
you jump at any change in the API.

Actually that's the point why I like the idea of dgtdrv. It
does not cost the gui programmer much efford to implement.
Just some additional strings to his uci or xboard parser and
the rest is already implemented to handle chess engines.
Disscussed this issue for quite some time with a programmer
who said: "Well it would be cool to have but if its to
complex its not worth the work as the market is pretty
small. I've other more pressing things to do where I've just
a lot more customers to ask for."

Actually that is also the point where we need to get the mac
working. I was actually told that in the mac community these
boards are not that rare and quite some queries are coming
in about support for them.

> Furthermore, major bug fixes will be back ported to v1.9.

Thats good.

> And last but not least, I can help in porting dgtdrv to the v2 ! It will
> not take long :)

I'll do it that's not the problem. Just can't say: It's done
tomorroy. And I just can not do this every other week. Don't
get me wrong here. dgtnix is a really cool lib which get all
this stuff done for me I'd have to do some reading about how
to implement it. dgtdrv on the other hand is some kind  of
app that allows you to use the board today and not "when the
gui programmer had time to add it". So it is IMHO not that
bad an application to get dgt support "to the market".

Anyway, I'm not that entirely sure that the port is that
immediate as you think as I do my "event handling" inside
and have quite some calls for this in certain areas, cause
dgtdrv has to come from the concept of adding and removing
pieces to the construction of valid moves. Maybe it is
enough to change the calls and switch one routine. I'll have
to look into your new API in detail.

-- 

Kind regards,                /                 War is Peace.
                            |            Freedom is Slavery.
Alexander Wagner            |         Ignorance is Strength.
                            |
                            | Theory     : G. Orwell, "1984"
                           /  In practice:   USA, since 2001