A New Approach to Distribution

[Sam Pottinger]

A major problem with languages like Java is that the standard
distribution is huge. However, on the other extreme we have Python,
which often requires the installation of outside projects. While both
have coped with their problems well, this idea of how to distribute
libraries must be attacked head on in a new language. Here is an idea
Larry and myself have come up with:

The new idea occurs during the installation of an application. The
install software for the application will compare the required
libraries to the libraries already installed on the user's computer.
Libraries not already installed are gathered from the internet or are
extracted from the install program itself. This is similar to the
dependency package system in Linux. This might actually knock out two
birds with one stone. The libraries used could be native libraries,
which could increase the speed of execution. Also, after the
installation process is complete, the interpreted code could be
compiled down to native byte-code. Of course, this would depend on the
user's needs and the programmer's intentions.

Still, there are downsides:

1. Installation applications would either require internet access or
require large files. However, after the installation process, the
install file could be deleted and programs could be sharing libraries,
which saves space.

2. The install file might be cross-platform, but, the installed
applications would not be.

3. The programmer or the interpreter would need to plan ahead for
updates.

Something to think about,

Sam