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diff --git a/doc/python10/future.xml b/doc/python10/future.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2356cac --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/python10/future.xml @@ -0,0 +1,209 @@ +<?xml version='1.0'?> +<!DOCTYPE sconsdoc [ + <!ENTITY % scons SYSTEM "../scons.mod"> + %scons; +]> + +<section id="sect-future" + xmlns="http://www.scons.org/dbxsd/v1.0" + xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" + xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.scons.org/dbxsd/v1.0 http://www.scons.org/dbxsd/v1.0/scons.xsd"> +<title>Future Directions</title> + +<!-- + + Copyright (c) 2001 - 2014 The SCons Foundation + + Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining + a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the + "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including + without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, + distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to + permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to + the following conditions: + + The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included + in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. + + THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY + KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE + WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND + NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE + LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION + OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION + WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. + +--> + +<para> + + There are a number of things we would like to do to continue to + improve &SCons; in the future. + +</para> + +<section> + <title>Distutils Cooperation</title> + + <para> + + There is a certain amount of overlap between what &SCons; does + to search out and make use of various compilers on a system, and + the impressively complete job that the Distutils do of describing + much the same thing. Collaborating to provide some sort of common + interface between the two tools would benefit both tools. + + </para> + +</section> + +<section> + <title>Additional Builder Support</title> + + <para> + + Adding additional builders would broaden the + potential user base. In rough order of importance: + + </para> + + <variablelist> + + <varlistentry> + <term>Java</term> + <listitem> + <para> + + Given the popularity of Java, support for it would greatly + increase the appeal of &SCons; in the large community of Java + users. + + </para> + + <para> + + Good support for Java is, however, a tricky + proposition. Because the Java compiler can make decisions + about compiling other files based on what classes it finds + in a file, it behaves "unpredictably" from the point of + view of an outside build tool like &SCons; or &Make;. Some + sort of sophisticated scanning of Java source code to + identify what other classes are likely to be compiled + would be an obvious first step, but notice that here + &SCons; would be scanning the file to find additional + targets to be built. This is the inverse of the sort of + <literal>#include</literal> scanning performed + for C files, in which &SCons; is looking for additional + <emphasis>dependencies</emphasis>. + + </para> + </listitem> + </varlistentry> + + <varlistentry> + <term>Documentation toolchains</term> + <listitem> + <para> + + A number of early adopters + are using &SCons; to + build documents + from TeX or DocBook source files. + Built-in support for + various documentation toolchains + would be an obvious boon + for many people. + + </para> + </listitem> + </varlistentry> + + <varlistentry> + <term>C#</term> + <listitem> + <para> + + The reality is that anything that Microsoft does will doubtless + have a wide audience. Turning &SCons;' back on that would be + cutting off its nose to spite its face. + + </para> + </listitem> + </varlistentry> + + <varlistentry> + <term>Fortran</term> + <listitem> + <para> + + Despite the fact that &SCons; is no longer directly + associated with Software Carpentry, it still shares the + same goal: to make programming easier for more than just + programmers. To that end, good Fortran support would + help a great many physical scientists and other computer + <emphasis>users</emphasis> out there who still rely on Fortran + for a great deal of their work. + + </para> + </listitem> + </varlistentry> + + </variablelist> + +</section> + +<section> + <title>Database Interface</title> + + <para> + + The Nodes in an &SCons; dependency graph aren't only restricted to + files. Creating an interface to mSQL or MySQL databases would allow + the possibility of updating external files in response to changes in + database fields, or vice versa. This could be handy, for example, + for generating a cache of static web pages from a database that only + need re-generating when the appropriate database objects change. + + </para> + +</section> + +<section> + <title>Tool Integration</title> + + <para> + + &SCons; should work well with as many popular Integrated Development + Environments (IDEs) and tool chains as possible: Komodo, Microsoft + Visual Studio, ClearCase, etc. Suggestions for additional tools are + welcome. + + </para> + +</section> + +<section> + <title>Makefile Interface</title> + + <para> + + Because the &SCons; Build Engine can be embedded in any Python + interface, there isn't any technical reason why a &Makefile; + interpreter couldn't be written in Python and use the &SCons; Build + Engine for its dependency analysis. + + </para> + + <para> + + Proof-of-concept for the idea already exists. Gary Holt's + <literal>make++</literal> (also known as <literal>makepp</literal>) + is a Perl implementation of just such a &Makefile; interpreter. It + could possible serve as a model for a Python version, in much the + same way the &Cons; design served as the prototype for &SCons;. + + </para> + +</section> + +</section> |