Comments on scripts, modeling and Grass

[Rich Shepard]

On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, Agustin Lobo wrote:

> The question here is to decide whether we should select a language to
> become the standard for "gluing" grass commands into more complex
> processes. Officially, the favored language is just the bsh since
> Grass3.x. I'm guilty of the crime of not having ever followed such advice
> and used the csh. The true is that, for simple flows of grass commands,
> including simple interactions with the user, even the bsh or the csh can
> do the job. The point here is to decide whether we could select a
> different language to deal with more complicated processes. The
> alternatives are:

Agus,

  Allow me to suggest that this is not the best use of everyone's time and
effort. As you point out in the paragraph following the one I quote above,
you know shell scripting, but not more generic scripting languages. We're
all in a similar position.

  My opinion on establishing a "standard" meta-language for GRASS is to not
do it.

  We all have different needs and different skills. Whatever works best for
each of us is good enough. Even if we want to package a particular solution
for distribution to others, we can do so using the language of our choice.
The end use will not care less which language we choose.

  However, there is value in providing a set of common hooks (which I
believe already exists within GRASS) to pipe input and output not only
among GRASS modules but also with external programs. As long as this API is
well documented we can use whatever "glue" language we prefer.

  Personally, I like C, and I always marvel at the proliferation of
scripting languages. New ones show up quite frequently on freshmeat and I
have to keep at least a half-dozen on my systems because different
application programs are dependent on different scripting languages. Puzzles
me no end why we have this situation. But, I'm content to remain puzzled.
:-)

  I'm curious, and not challanging you with any negative intent, to know
what prompted you to raise this issue? Specifically, what is the problem for
which you are seeking a solution? Again, this is just idle curiosity as I
work my way through the first mug of coffee this morning.

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

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