[Nexus-developers] Nxtranslate question

[Akeroyd, FA (Freddie)]

I think dynamic loading is vital for a number of reasons:

(1) clean interface: a user can extend NXtranslate without needing to
know C++ or how to compile/link it. On windows they can then build their
module using whatever build environment they are used to - if they had
to rebuild NXtranslate they would have to either learn the whole NeXus
MinGW build environment or create their own e.g. Visual Studio project
files for it. 
(2) portability: a user can give away their module rather than a new
modified nxtranslate; this means you do not need to merge in two
people's modifications or have lots of "modified" NXtranslates floating
around. A commercial company could provide a "black box" NXtranslate
module that everybody could use even though they may not want to give
away their source code and so we avoid any potential licensing problems.
(3) compatability: we can distribute a new NXtranslate and everybody can
continue to use their old dynamic modules unchanged; they do not need to
merge in the new changes to their source code.

Freddie 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: nexus-developers-bounces at anl.gov [mailto:nexus-developers-
> bounces at anl.gov] On Behalf Of Peterson, Peter F.
> Sent: 06 September 2005 17:02
> To: nexus-developers at anl.gov
> Subject: [Nexus-developers] Nxtranslate question
> 
> As many of you have noticed there has recently been a bit of work
going
> into Nxtranslate. In an attempt to serve users I thought it would be
> useful to enable dynamic loading of libraries for reading from various
> formats as well as statically linking the libraries into the
executable.
> The question for you is whether dynamic loading is useful feature, or
> just something that looks like fun (read: would you use dynamic
> loading)?
> 
> Thank you for your input,
> P^2
> --
> Spallation Neutron Source
> Oak Ridge National Laboratory
> Tel: 865-241-3626
>