[Papyrus-L] Pap vs. others and where's Dave?

[Dave Goldman, Research Software Design]

[NOTE: This thread began on the papyrus-l list. I am also posting this
response to the papyrus-mac-l list, in case anyone is subscribed there
only. But let us keep further discussion to the papyrus-l list, which
applies to Papyrus in general.]


I'm still here, of course, and reading all these messages with great interest.

I've received too many personal e-mails to respond to each of them
individually. Thank you all for your positive comments about Papyrus and
Research Software Design.

Let me respond to some of the questions and suggestions that have appeared
on these discussion lists.


First, though, a few technical details about the programming of Papyrus.
[NOTE: This discussion list is not a technical programming forum. I'm
presenting some facts here, but please let us avoid further interchanges
about the relative merits of various programming languages, frameworks, or
operating systems.]

Papyrus started in 1979 as a Fortran program for the PDP-11 minicomputer.
Version 7.0 remains a Fortran program, and still contains some core code
from over 20 years ago. (Those programmers amongst you who have heard of
Fortran only in your history classes need not sneer too much. Version 7.0
also contains code that incorporates modern object-oriented techniques.)

Papyrus 8.0 for Macintosh is written in C++, using a programming framework
created by Apple Computer named MacApp.

Papyrus 8.0 for Windows was going to share the same C++ code, using a
Windows version of the MacApp framework. That Windows version was once
promised by Apple, but the company later reneged on that promise. I have
been working hard over the past few years to resolve the technical,
financial and political challenges of making MacApp a multi-platform
programming framework -- Mac and Windows initially, perhaps also Linux
later on. This effort has been greatly complicated by Apple's very recent
announcement that it will no longer support and develop MacApp.


- Will there be a Version 7.0.17 for DOS/Windows, or a Version 8.0.11 for
Macintosh?

I do not currently expect that we will see a Version 7.0.17 for DOS/Windows.

One of these days there will be a Version 8.0.11 for Macintosh. Version
8.0.10 contains some bugs that we have already fixed; we have been waiting
on an official 8.0.11 update until we could deal with some additional
issues. When time permits, we will at least put together the existing bug
fixes and post an 8.0.11 updater to our web site.


- Will some other company continue to develop new versions of Papyrus?

To date we have not been approached by any companies interested in doing so.


- Can Papyrus users send money to Research Software Design to fund further
development?

I'm afraid that this doesn't appear practical to me. We'd be talking
funding the salaries of at least a couple of senior programmers for at
least a year. That's a lot of money. And I would not be comfortable with
accepting such funds when I cannot guarantee the successful completion of
the project -- both because of the nature of software projects in general,
and because of possible MacApp licensing difficulties with Apple.
Abandoning MacApp is a possibility, but that would add significantly more
time to the project.


- Could Papyrus users who are computer programmers, or who have access to
computer programmers, help in completing the Windows version of Papyrus?
Perhaps as an open-source project?

I think this would also prove impractical. Version 7.0 is written in
Fortran, a language known by relatively few programmers these days. More
importantly, the code shows its 20-year evolution, and would be
near-impossible for a new programmer to figure out, not to mention extend
into a Windows application.

The Version 8.0 code, while very clean and modern, is still sufficiently
extensive and complex that a new programmer would have to work hard to
understand all of it. More significantly, it is based on the MacApp
framework -- which will be familiar to only a subset of Mac programmers,
and quite unfamiliar to Windows (or Linux) programmers.


- What about Linux?

This is a case where the potential of Linux doesn't seem to offer us any
help. A Linux version of Papyrus would be more of a challenge than a
Windows version, since we have not already done any work toward a Linux
version.


- Is there no hope, then?

I have been trying for quite a while to find a path toward the completion
of Papyrus for Windows. I remain open to suggestions, but at this point I
don't see a solution to the various obstacles outlined above.


-- Dave Goldman (dave at ResearchSoftwareDesign.com)

   Research Software Design            The PAPYRUS Bibliography System
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   Portland OR 97219-4458 (U.S.A.)     503-796-1368, fax 503-452-8920

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