[Pipet Devel] Overview

[J.W. Bizzaro]

Brad Chapman wrote:
> 
> 2. A method for requesting a list of programs/libraries registered
> with the processing engine. I think the "middle" should keep XML
> descriptions of these separate from the processing engine, so this way
> we can keep the messaging objects light weight (ie. they don't need
> any knowledge of the description or other info about a program--just
> how to run it and get stuff back from it).

Absolutely.  Libraries, etc. for the GUI are only REFERRED to via URI.  This
stuff may already be available on the local host, so to minimize transfer, the
local host is given the OPTION to get a remote copy or use the local one. 
This is an old Loci discussion (initiated by Humberto and Justin IIRC).  Which
reminds me, we should also send library version information in the stream. 
That way, the local system will know if a newer version is available.

> This way the "middle" can
> also keep the XML files for programs organized into directories of
> similar programs, so they will be easy to find for the user. However,
> before giving a GUI access to a program representation, it will need
> to confirm with the middle that the

(? I think you fell asleep typing this ;-))

The others probably don't understand what we mean by 'XML representation'.

> 3. Methods for querying the middle to determine the "status" of a
> process.

Right.  BTW, I want to have a status 'symbol' (no pun intended) displayed for
and with each node.

> I would be happy to have one. I'm all about structure etc. The way my
> life works is that I work on things frantically all at once, and then
> get way behind in everything else and have to work frantically on
> them, but I can try to stick with a schedule :-)

That's hilarious.  You just described the life of every college student :-) 
I'm always trying to get things done at the last minute while neglecting that
which is due later.  Then those other things get done at the last minute, ad
infinitum.

> Shorely, I'm ready whenever Jarl is ready for me :-) Personally, I
> don't really care whether I use C or C++ and would like to avoid
> mixing languages as little as possible (too late for that, I know.)

Homogeneity will come in time.

> I think we're ready now <keeping my fingers tightly crossed> for any
> kind of merge. As we merge, I think we'll be able to see better what
> kind of functionality we need to add to what we have to support the
> current states of Loci and GMS.

Do we need a new CVS module?

>     Jeff, you might want to have some discussions with the Overflow
> guys about the GUI. It seems like you both have come up with very
> similar ideas for how things should work, just with different names:

Yeah, some of the similarities are surprising.

> loci -> nodes
> workspace -> network and subnetwork

Maybe it's more like...

  workflow diagram -> network and subnetworks

  workspace contains the workflow diagram

  composite loci contain 'sub-workspaces', which contain workflow
  diagrams that could be called subnetworks

> They have some experimental stuff starting up--like iterators and
> threading, which I don't think the current GUI will support. I'm not
> sure how they feel about things and would like to handle this.

Hmmm.  Well, I'm flexible with the design of the GUI.

>     For GMS, it seems like the move to this connect the dots type GUI
> will be a big change from the list oriented stuff it currently has, so
> Jarl's input will also be very important here.

Yep.

>     We can definately do this, and I think we should start ASAP and
> just start squeezing things together and see how it goes.
>     Let me know where I can help the most and I'll start up there...

You're definitely the go-between for Jarl and myself.

Cheers.
Jeff
-- 
                      +----------------------------------+
                      |           J.W. Bizzaro           |
                      |                                  |
                      | http://bioinformatics.org/~jeff/ |
                      |                                  |
                      |        BIOINFORMATICS.ORG        |
                      |           The Open Lab           |
                      |                                  |
                      |    http://bioinformatics.org/    |
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