On Wed, Feb 12, 2003 at 09:32:37AM -0000, Simon Peyton-Jones wrote:
Well done!
Elements of the consensus (your section 2) seem to be
* Cross-platform portability is very important, meaning: the same Haskell program should run on many platforms
* The primary goal is to define a mid-level API, at the general level of Object I/O or GIO
* The implementation technology (i.e. which underlying library is used) is not part of the specification. Indeed, it's a goal that the specification should constrain the implementation technology as little as possible. Specifically:
(a) the specification should be such that it is possible to implement the spec with native look and feel
(b) the specification should be such that a free-software implementation is possible
I'd like to suggest a non-goal
* The specification API should be Haskell 98
GUIs are an area where muti-parameter type classes and existentials are really useful, and it's a pity not to use them. Let's stick to features in the intersection of GHC and Hugs, though.
Thanks Simon! You safed my writing (and especially motivating) the summary. I will add this tonight. Axel.