Re: DW function

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to note from xywrite@xxxxxxxx Wed, 2 Dec 1998 10:38:01 -0500

> What Robert's written is a
> complex, powerful, open-source plug-in to a closed-source, traditional
> commercial program.

That's one construction of the case. But XyWrite is unique -- and I think this is
absolutely crucial to understand, otherwise you get nowhere with XyWrite -- in that
it gives you a parallel, open method of accessing the same atomic particles that
the EDITOR source code uses to construct documents. If those particles are
small enough in their actions -- and they are very very small -- then you can
reshape (almost) all procedures as if you were modifying the source itself. That
makes XPL amazing. It directly speaks the language of EDITOR, in a way that
all the other languages so often mentioned as replacements (Visual Basic or
whatever) never could. For this application, it is perfect. (For any other
application, it would be ridiculous.) The more you probe it, the more you
discover, in the big architecture, in the polish and cleanliness of the
thing, as well as in subtle nuances, undocumented variants, and bizarre
commands, consistent strokes of genius. Often I think that we're pushing this thing
far beyond the wildest imagination of the inventors. But from time to time, rather
frequently actually, you uncover something so powerful, so thoroughly and carefully
conceived and yet totally unexploited, that your pride is deflated, and only one
conclusion is possible: David Erickson, this completely private man, is bloody
brilliant. A hero, to me.



-----------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------