Subject: [BXXPwg] perl implementation

From: "Mathieu Longtin" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 17:50:35 -0400

Hi,

are you aware of anyone working on an implementation of BEEP over TCP?

-Mathieu

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From: j h woodyatt <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 13:45:00 -0700

> are you aware of anyone working on an implementation of BEEP over TCP?

I abandoned mine about halfway through.  Since Perl has neither garbage 
collection nor pre-emptive multi-threading, the task of writing a 
*complete* implementation of the BEEP core and its TCP mapping is 
somewhat daunting.  Particularly for the listener.

I figured somebody else will probably do the obvious thing: write an 
extension that just does BEEP initiation on a single TCP connection and 
does everything in a synchronous fashion.  I was trying for the hard 
problem.  Silly me.

There are several competing cooperative multi-tasking programming 
frameworks available for Perl in the CPAN, but all of them have problems 
when you try to develop layered stacks of protocols like BEEP.  The one 
I like the best is POE, but Rocco basically dropped the ball on 
developing a generalized model of flow control.  The others seem 
basically aimed at enabling applications to handle mouse events.  "If 
you want it done really right, you have to do it yourself," I thought.  
I got really tired of re-inventing that particular wheel in Perl.

It might be easier just to code one-offs into each different Perl 5 
implementation of an application protocol defined as a BEEP profile.  
It's the general BEEP core library extension that is hard to do in Perl, 
I think.  Without pre-emptive multi-threading, it's pretty tough-- but 
without garbage collection either, it's too much bother for this little 
bear.

I eventually gave up and decided to wait for Perl 6.  Maybe there's 
someone else smarter than me (or less orthodox) who has already done it 
in Perl 5.  If so, I would be delighted to hear about it.

--
j h woodyatt <[email-masked]>
"You're standing on sacred ground.  Many strange and wonderful
things have transpired right where you're standing."
                                               --unattributable