[plt-dev] Fwd: [plt-scheme] How to add a new language to DrScheme?

On Feb 18, Carl Eastlund wrote:
> 
> Consider the web server as an example.  We do not provide code for
> the web server that defines its configuration values and tell the
> user to "edit collects/web-server/config.ss".  Instead, we provide a
> framework for the web server that is parameterized over its
> configuration.  The user can then write a program or run a command
> line utility that fills in those parameters and runs the web server.
> We provide the entire framework; the user writes one or a few lines
> to kick it off, rather than editing files in our provided collection
> tree.

To create simple a web-server application you write some code in a
file and package it up in some form that your clients can install.  To
create a basic customized handin client you write some code in a file
(and it's very simple: just an info.ss file) and you need to package
it in a way your clients can install.  IOW, I don't see any point
here.

It just happens that the *actual* client code (the one in the
handin-client collection) needs to be packaged with it right now --
but that won't be necessary if that code is included with the
student's drscheme installation.  To take this analogy back to the
web server -- if it was not included with plt, then to write a web
server application you'd need to package your code and the web-server
code and ship all of that to your clients -- same deal.

Some more details: I think that it's safe to assume that I'm using the
handin server/client pretty heavily -- so this is a version that is
supposedly going to be an extreme case of "customization".

* What I do to setup the server is run it from a directory with a
  configuration file and some additional things (like the ssl
  certificate files, the hw directories etc).  The server code itself
  is _unmodified_ (it's actually running from the plt svn tree).

* What I do to setup the client is:

  1. copy the whole thing over to my own directory

  2. overwrite server-cert.pem with my own certificate

  3. overwrite icon.png with my own icon

  4. edit info.ss

  5. add a whole bunch of stuff that is specific to my course

  Now, if the handin client was included with the student
  distributions,

  - I'd begin with an empty directory

  - I wouldn't need to do #1

  - In #2 and #3 I'd "put my files" in instead of "overwriting" them.

  - For #4 I'd "write my own" info file, where this is most
    conveniently done by starting from a documented example that lists
    what I can have there -- a template file happens to be a very
    convenient format for such work (the template could move from a
    file to the manual, but it's the same idea)

  - #5 would be the same

  - Additional point: with the way things are, I'd probably need to
    write stub files like a "client-gui.ss" file that has:

      #lang scheme/base
      (require handin-client/client-gui)
      (provide (all-from-out handin-client/client-gui))

    But if the collection is included with plt, then it should be easy
    to arrange it so the stub files are not needed.  That is, the info
    file will use the tool directly from the plt tree, and things will
    work fine.  (The main change here would be in the
    "this-collection.ss" hack, which will find the collection holding
    the info file instead of itself.)

If my guess is correct, then you're assuming that I won't do that last
paragraph and that's what you're trying to complain about.  This
assumption is false.

[Finally -- all of this is independent from a "quick guide to writing
your own language", but in the post that started this thread Filipe
said he managed that part.]

-- 
          ((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x)))          Eli Barzilay:
                  http://www.barzilay.org/                 Maze is Life!