[Twisted-Python] Twisted.pim

[Chris Armstrong]

On Wed, Jul 04, 2001 at 10:43:42AM -0700, Kevin Turner wrote:
> Please look at Evolution too.  I'm sure you can find something to not
> like about it, but there's been a lot of sweat put into it, so you
> should at least be able to learn something from their efforts.

The biggest problem with Evolution (or anything) is that it's not Twisted 
enough. One small part of the philosophy behind Twisted is reinventing the 
wheel, but to be a rocket-powered wheel (look at all the UNIX services we're
reimplementing).

> You can't spend too much time thinking about integration before someone
> brings up the rather ill-defined idea of "desktop environment".  Now, 
> forget I said that phase, because it doesn't mean much.  ;)  I just
> raise a few more questions:  What if the resource you are working on is
> not an emacs buffer, but an Excel spreadsheet?  Can you incorporate
> resources into this system that you, the Twisted.pim designer, did not
> anticipate the existance of?  Can other third-party applications make

If you want to make a new type of information, make a new subclass of the
base InfoData class. You can also make a new organizer class for it, and 
a new UI. The "integration" he's talking of isn't at the UI level, it's at
the base. In other words, our integration isn't the same integration that
Desktop Environments are going after -- Look&Feel integration. We're going for
data that will be integrated. The associator will be able to associate 
arbitrary InfoDatas to each other.

> use of your contact list and schedule things into your calendar -- even
> if they're not written in Python?  To what degree does "integratibility"
> imply "embedability"?

Sure, as long as there is a PB implementation in that language (on a side note,
dash seems to be getting along with a Lisp implementation of glen. After glen,
there will probably be a PB implementation for Lisp, too). Of course,
accessing the data without going through PB will be harder, but that wouldn't
be Twisted.

> Now, we all know that since PB is being published under the Twisted
> label, it's got to be the greatest thing since spreadable cheese.  But
> even so, but I'd sleep better at night if I read a memo comparing its
> suitability for "Integration." to the other things that are being used
> these days from that pot of ole soap ipc corba orbit bonobo rpc kparts
> stew.

PB has nothing to do with the integration of the PIM. The big integrator
is the imaginary 'associator' module in the PIM package. PB will just serve
as the protocol for remote access to the PIM information, and by remote I
don't just mean connecting to remote hosts - there will be a PIM service running
on your local twisted process, and you connect to that with the PIM clients.


-- 
Chris Armstrong                        carmstro at twistedmatrix.com
http://twistedmatrix.com/~carmstro     carmstro at dynup.net