Protocols (was: Oops)

[Alaric B. Williams]

> Dear Alaric,
>   some of your private replies to tunes list messages seem would be as well
> posted on the whole list. I herein reply on the whole list this
> double-private message...

That's right, I'm manually sending this just to the list...

> >>: Fare
> >: Alaric
> :Fare

> > It's very much a one way language... a structured vector graphics format
> > would be much nicer. Is Turing-completeness really necessary for driving
> > printers?!?!?!

> Sure! Why not? Turing-completeness allows for arbitrary good compression.
> Well, ok. I admit something like DVI would be as well suited in most case.
> Turing-completeness allows it as just a standard procedure among others.
> Hey, why not write a DVI display manager in PostScript?
> Why not have an enhanced compressed DVI as a standard printer format?
> Just a few random guesses...

The problem with TC in PCLs is that one then cannot study many useful
properties of the output without actually executing it, which is not guaranteed
to terminate.

> > PS Have you heard of Lout? It's functional TeX.
> I've seen some announces, but not looked at it yet.
> Do you have pointers?

Sure... erm... hang on a sec...I've got it installed here; I can't find the WWW
pointer I got it from, but it was written by:

Email: jeff@cs.su.oz.au 
(Jeff Kingston)

I have a large postscript file about it's design which I can mail Fare privately;
it's about half a meg (!).

>    When this evaluation is not possible or too costly,

Trust problems between systems may prohibit it, yes...

> an optimistic declarative protocol, instead of an imperative protocol,
> with every end having a model of the ongoing communication,
[...]
> (which includes declaring any change in further protocol that the other
> end should know about).

/which/ optimistic declarative protocol?

> > EG, the initiator requests a protocol socket be opened, and is given 
> > back a portable (netwide) address object that can be passed to the
> > other end, which requests communication to that address.

> Another advantage of declarative communication
[...]

...which is, exactly?

> > Right, the implementation of a protocol is well seperated from the
> > meta-implementation.

> > -ing is the proper ending in English, BTW; metaprogramming :-)
>
> You nitpicker. Mwa frenchais spiike pa bien english,
> butt Joan uv'Arc bootais you hors de France!

:-)

ABW
--
Alaric B. Williams Internet : alaric@abwillms.demon.co.uk
http://www.abwillms.demon.co.uk/