[BLDG-SIM] Open-source simulation tools (was: TC 4.7 website)

[Z. Todd Taylor]

Robert Sonderegger <Robert.Sonderegger at SRC-Systems.com> wrote:

[ snip ]

> > COM is not and
> > probably never will be cross-platform.  CORBA has a much better
> > chance.
> 	[RCS]  Maybe.  But it's a Microsoft world out there...

Mostly, perhaps.  But there are a lot of Macs, too, and Linux is
coming on strong.  And many of us still work on other Unix
workstations out of pure preference.  In the area of residential
design and drafting, for example, Macs are very popular, maybe
even dominant (informal guess based on my wife's experience in
the field---she's one of very few Windows users among local
residential architect/designers).

The point is that it makes little strategic sense to limit
yourself to one OS when you don't have to.  The exercise of
writing cross-platform code also insulates you from whatever
gratuitous changes Microsoft will make in its next OS releases.
Given the technologies available today, I can think of very few
reasons (other than emotional loyalty) to limit software to a
single platform/OS.

All that said, I don't think COM/CORBA is the most serious
question.  If the guts are divorced from the GUI(s) and if the
underlying calculation engine sports a simple, generic,
language-oriented interface, it should be straightforward to
layer on any number of network interface wrappers (COM, CORBA,
simple sockets, etc.).

Back to work...

--Todd
-- 
Z. Todd Taylor
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Todd.Taylor at pnl.gov
Why is it mouse and mice but not house and hice?

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