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[bloodline]

Originally Posted by Karlos

No, just thinking pragmatically.

All the implementations I saw turn your Obj-J into regular javascript. Hence there's nothing it can actually do that can't be done in JS directly. Probably with a greater degree of efficiency too.

There's nothing stopping your browser (and it's plugins) or any other javascript host application exposing any API it likes to javascript, irrespective of what language the API itself was written in. You don't need to change any syntax of JS for this. In fact, I can remember using and controlling java applets from javascript. You simply instantiate (or embed) the applet, get a DOM reference to it in JS, and then all the public methods of it are visible to javascript. All the webkit classes are written in C++ but you don't see someone creating a JS implementation of C++ to get at HTML5

What Objective-J gives you is the NeXTStep frameworks (called cappuccino), and all the benefits which that brings for use in your web browser. It is rather easy to rapidly build an app using it, that runs in your browser, I think that's cool

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by bloodline

What Objective-J gives you is the NeXTStep frameworks (called cappuccino), and all the benefits which that brings for use in your web browser. It is rather easy to rapidly build an app using it, that runs in your browser, I think that's cool

I don't doubt it, it's just that it is completely unnecessary to change JS syntax in any way to introduce access to this API or any other.

[bloodline]

Originally Posted by Karlos

I don't doubt it, it's just that it is completely unnecessary to change JS syntax in any way to introduce access to this API or any other.

Imagine you are a NeXTStep coder, or an iPhone coder or even an MacOSX coder... Now you want to write an app that anyone with a JavaScript browser can use... Bingo! Obj-j is here! All the classes you are used to, with the correct syntax and all those little features you've grown to love, all there at your fingertips ready to allow you full expression... Or you could use it as a teaching tool, a gateway from JavaScript to Obj-C as I plan to

[EDanaII]

Originally Posted by nicholas

I still have re-occurring nightmares of being forced to write code with an Informix back end in the mid 90's!

Heh. I've never worked with Informix -- Oracle, SQLServer and a little MySQL, yes, but not Informix -- so I have no idea how bad it is... but you know, if it had a natural language parser, like Inform7, that'd be pretty impressive.

But my point is pretty pointless...

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by bloodline

Imagine you are a NeXTStep coder, or an iPhone coder or even an MacOSX coder...

First up against the wall come the revolution.

Now you want to write an app that anyone with a JavaScript browser can use... Bingo! Obj-j is here! All the classes you are used to, with the correct syntax

Objective-C syntax is never correct except when it is vanilla C

and all those little features you've grown to love, all there at your fingertips ready to allow you full expression... Or you could use it as a teaching tool, a gateway from JavaScript to Obj-C as I plan to

An evil plan. I almost approve

[Karlos]

Anyhow, back to the original question: Pick any well-supported language that is good with strings and data collections.

[bloodline]

Originally Posted by Karlos

First up against the wall come the revolution.

Hmmm, so I'll put you down as "undecided" about joining the resistance then

Objective-C syntax is never correct except when it is vanilla C

Well, I'm going to argue with you about that, as I've said before, it took a while for the syntax to "click" with me too

An evil plan. I almost approve

Lol, I'm not actually being evil, my little brother has his heart set on writing a game for his iPod touch... And this seems to be the least painful way to get him started in programming!

On topic, I don't see why a simple HTML based hypertext adventure is out of the question... It would be VERY quick to implement and deploy

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by bloodline

Hmmm, so I'll put you down as "undecided" about joining the resistance then

ROFL! Wait, resistance against what? Decent language syntax?

Well, I'm going to argue with you about that, as I've said before, it took a while for the syntax to "click" with me too

There's no need, I "get" the syntax used in Objective-C, I have even written Objective-C and I even appreciate some of the design aims and features of the language. I just find it horrible to look at and to write. It's as if Smalltalk was experimenting with a teleporter device and after a few successful trials, on it's first attempt at teleporting itself from one pod to the other, noticed a copy of the K&R bible had fallen in with it but couldn't get out in time...

Any promotion of Obj-J to me is like witnessing the metastasis of this hideous abomination into other language areas. Don't expect me to like it