L Roadmap

 


 

 

 

The following page is a basic outline of intended milestones anticipated for the L Language and its associated tools. This list is a basic roadmap for future L development, but it is not set in stone, and any priorities or schedules implied by it are subject to change.

First Release Milestones
Completed

Inital Language Milestone

    1. Create L Compiler
    2. Create Minimal App Framework (i.e., main() & printf() )
    3. Write L I/O Support Ojbects (i.e., write aggregates to file)
    4. Create Minimal Sample Apps
    5. Finish L Documentation
    6. Create Visual Studio integration
    7. Create Windows installer


0.5 Limited Release

 

Second Release Milestones

LINUX Support Milestone

    1. Port L Base
    2. Port L Compiler and I/O Support
    3. Create Linux installer
    4. (optional) port to other Unixes

Documentation Milestone

  1. Expand tutorial sections
  2. Create comprehensive sample apps
  3. Create docs for Linux support
  4. Expand FAQ

Language Milestone

  1. Expand common I/O library
  2. Support exceptions, basic macros, "expose", Buffer
  3. Profile and optimize L Core and L Compiler

 

1.0 Public Release

 

Third Release Milestones

Mac Port Milestone

  1. Port L Base
  2. Port L Compiler and I/O Support
  3. Create Mac installer

Vtable Milestone

  1. Switch LObj to use vtables for efficiency
  2. Documentation

Unicode Milestone

  1. Run-time support for UNICODE strings
  2. Compiler support for UNICODE

Single Machine Threading Milestone

  1. Write Native Thread Support Objects
  2. Write Single-Machine Thread Samples

Base GUI Milestone

  1. Create minimal GUI framework
  2. Create basic GUI designer or importer
  3. Windows support
  4. Linux support
  5. Mac support

 

1.5 Public Release

 

Fourth Release Milestones

Virtualization Milestone

  1. Add Virtualization Support to Runtime
  2. Add Compiler Support
  3. Virtualization Documentation
  4. Virtualization Sample

Namespace Milestone

  1. Write Single-Machine Namespace Support
  2. Write Namespace Samples

Multi-Machine Threading Milestone

  1. Write Multi-Machine Namespace Support
  2. Write Multi-Machine Support Objects
  3. Write Multi-Machine Thread Samples

 

2.0 Public Release

 

Fifth Release Milestones

Garbage Collection Milestone

  1. Write real garbage collector
  2. Garbage collector docs

Interpreter Milestone

  1. Write L Code Interpreter
  2. Add language elements for interpreter
  3. Write Interpreter Code Samples

 

3.0 Public Release

 

.status

2003-01-23

Release 0.6 is out the door!

We took a breather from L to write and support a couple of shareware programs to hopefully support continuing L development efforts. But we're now back on L, and have updated the distributed source-code to build correctly, and have simplified the source tree in the process. (The 0.5 release had some problems that required some significant fiddling before things would compile and link correctly.)

Some discussion and development of an L based graphics library and have taken place as a precursor to the application framework, but we have put its development on hold for the moment. We've actually decided to implement virtualization at this time, a "Milestone 4" feature. We decided we wanted it for various parts of the L graphics library, so it's now our current obsession.

As a consequence, the planned developments for the second and third milestones have been delayed. So much for planning! For what it's worth though, LINUX/GCC support has been started by Martin, and is at this point probably about 30% complete.

Barring any bad bugs in this release, the next planned release will include virtualization.

 

2002-03-20

Release 0.5 is out the door!

Big relief after almost 2 1/2 years effort. StevenG already found first bug: crash when invoking AddIn when no debug session is running will fix this problem soon. Fixed some tutorial errors and other web page formatting problems too.

Martin got L-Core and regressions to compile and run without error under Windows GCC. Next step is to get the compiler running. This is all a precursor to porting to LINUX.

Some discussion has started about what the L application framework will look like. Looks like we've got some radically cool ideas here...

 

2002-03-12

Closing in on first public release. Getting nervous and excited! Hopefully Xeno won't be entirely disappointed with our baby.

Martin is working on a proof-of-concept port to the GCC compiler (though still under Windows), in preparation for a full Linux port. So far, LBase compiles, but we won't know if it runs 'till LPattern and the LBase regressions are compiling too.