[saga-rg] Java implementation issues

[Thilo Kielmann]

May I largely contradict Andre:

On Wed, Nov 23, 2005 at 08:48:56AM -0600, Andre Merzky wrote:

> One more remark: we are pretty sure that, in one or two
> years from now, the SAGA spec will undergo major revisions.
> That includes firstly a widening of scope, but might
> secondly also affect lok & feel.  So any reference
> implementation should be easily extensible in scope, and
> should, if possible, simple enough to change look and feel
> w/o the need for complete rewrite.

We can not afford major changes in the API. While scope extensions are
envisioned, extensions alone must be (mostly) upward-compatible.
Look and feel changes can also only affect small things.

We must take the fact into account that, in order to be useful and
uptake-able by commercial parties (and even academic users), we have to
provide stability of the API. Otherwise, the SAGA interface will be a toy
rather than a standard.

If the message is that the API will change a lot in the future, I can
only recommend people using the GAT instead. In comparison to SAGA,
the GAT has stable implementations and a lot of existing adaptors.
What is the value of SAGA, if not of a stable and standardized interface?

We have to get our act together, and we have to do so now. SAGA is not
(supposed to be) an academic toy, it is meant for real. (So far my personal
interpretation of the whole endeavour.)


Cheers,


Thilo
-- 
Thilo Kielmann                                 http://www.cs.vu.nl/~kielmann/