Re: pointers in modules
Martin Buchholz <martin(a)xemacs.org> writes:
>>>>> "SJT" == Stephen J Turnbull
<turnbull(a)sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> writes:
SJT> Also note that in the past some reviewers strongly opposed the use of
SJT> implementation-specific idioms at the Lisp level (ie, ODBC or mysql or
SJT> postgresql), preferring a generic Emacs interface with "escapes" for
SJT> efficient use of variations (a la Perl's generic database interface).
I don't consider ODBC implementation-specific; instead, I consider
it a generic interface, and so more suitable for an application like
xemacs to target.
It is a generic interface, but that doesn't mean that XEmacs should
follow it.
ODBC is clumsy, C-oriented, and doesn't support many database-specific
things. It is sometimes accused of being extremely slow, but I won't
go into that.
My point is that XEmacs should define a simple Lispish database API
modeled after prior art (Perl DBI, Python DB), with backends into
implementation-specific stuff, which includes ODBC. Yes, I know that
handling ODBC as an implementation-specific thing sounds insane, but
that's how the world works.