[Vm-dev] What is the term for vm-display-null, vm-sound-ALSA etc??

[gettimothy]

Hi Bert.





Formally we call the VM extensions "modules" (e.g. listLoadedModules). Informally they are known as VM plugins. And that informal use has spread, so by now we use the terms interchangeably. 

Internal and external modules are supported by pretty much all VMs, providing named primitives and getting loaded on-demand when a named primitive is invoked.

Ian's drivers are unique and use the module mechanism mostly to avoid code duplication. But they are different, they do not provide named primitives, they get loaded on VM startup. They provide alternative implementations of the same platform functions, which is necessary because Unix is a much more diverse platform than the others. 



Thank you.


Based on what you wrote, I think the consistent approach is to use Ian's naming at the CMake level and let 'listLoadedModules' be the odd-looking turtle in the stack of 'plugin-turtles all the way down'.


To my mind, the listLoadedModules--for consistency sake--should be 'listLoadedPlugins:[internal|external|VM]--but that is a wish-list item.


VMPlugins it is.


thank you all for your time.


cheers.


tty 


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