[Freecats-Dev] Re: Implementation

[Henri Chorand]

Hi Stanislav,

Nice to read you. I'm answering on the list, so that Dan and other (active)
members also see this.

> Is there still no code for FreeCATs? The question is, should I
> start from scratch, or is there anything available (I mean for
> FreeCATs project, not the other projects floating around).

No code yet, I'm afraid, but Dan Urist already has something he would like
to bring in.

I have not heard from Tim Morley about his first experimentations with
MySQL. Whatever the result, we would be interested to know.

Dan is presently working on packaging his prototype software (see his latest
posts on the list). Note that (especially when reading his setup warnings
and since my current PC is under Windoze) I did not try to download it and
look at the code yet, as I'm not familiar enough with the languages he used.

>From the point of view of Free CATS's goal, some aspects of it make it look
most valuable at first sight (especially the interface plug-in for Open
Office).

Dan used Perl and Java languages, not necessarily in line with my initial
suggestions, but I mean, why not...

In order to successfully integrate all or part of his code into Free CATS'
framework, I think it will be important to agree on some common ground, part
of it being, using the same words in order to designate the same items. This
is why I think it's important to read our spec documents, including because
they give a good idea of what CAT is to developers. It may look like a mere
detail, but I think it's not.


> I'd like to implement at least a prototype for the server API.

Well, for a start, you could possibly work in team with Dan so as to review
my API proposal and Dan's WSDL files so as to highlight discrepancies in
terms (I saw some) and features (mostly minor ones, I guess), so as to call
for a short set of votes and see them converge.This is a type of job where
an "external eye" is quite valuable. Also, Dan's WSDL files is not exactly
an API, as it's an implementation of an API. Again, I believe his work to be
a quite valuable basis, but I think it's important for the future to be able
to stabilize a first "core", even if it later evolves a bit.

My API proposal is obviously not the work of a hard-core hacker, but it
tries to synthetize the core features needed by any CAT software from the
point of view of experienced translators. Because of this, I believe it
should be globally taken into account (possibly extended and improved, of
course).

This is important, because other bits of code are likely to come up, and we
ensure all of them comply to the same consistent set: one (compatible with
itself) project. Otherwise, it could (and will) become a source of hassle.
Once the API has been finalized, and every layer well-fefined, it will be
easy to plug other modules. I hope I express myself right here.


> Also, is there possibility to get access to the Savannah CVS?

Sure.
Please send me your Savannah login (requesting one is quick), and I'll add
you to the project team and give you admin rights.

For a start, you could then publish the two specification working documents
readily available. Marilyn Courté has also worked on a Trados-based
tutorial, I was supposed to proofread it, even though I lacked time in the
recent weeks, but I'll try to have this finalized in the next few weeks.
Marilyn, as I once had everything in this now extinct Linux PC, could you
send me this file again?


Cheers,

Henri