[Pipet Devel] updated model

[Konrad Hinsen]

> Konrad:
> 
> Tom also asked how someone might add TULIP tools that are not written in Python
> or C, say Tcl.  We have of course recently discussed how tools might be added in
> a CGI-like fashion using XML.  But you mentioned that you have experience mixing
> various languages directly with Python--by linking them with C?  Could you

Direct linking requires that
1) the code to be included uses a library approach, i.e. has callable
   subroutines, as opposed to an executable with its own user interface
2) the code is written in a low-level compiled language (C, C++, Fortran,
   Pascal, perhaps others).

Another general class of code that is easy to integrate from Python
are the classical Unix-style command line tools (whatever language
they are written in), i.e. programs that read from standard input
and write their results to standard output.

Programs with an interactive (but non-graphic) interface can be
integrated via PyExpect, but I have little personal experience with
that approach. With graphical interfaces I see no reasonable solution
at all.

> Tom:
> 
> We will only use Python and C for the *core* distribution of TULIP.  This is to
> keep it as simple as possible.  When we say that any language can be added, we

We might consider C translations (via f2c) of Fortran tools as well.
If people want the extra performance given by a real Fortran compiler,
they can always get the Fortran code and take care of the installation
themselves.

Konrad.
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