> From: Andreas Raab
> Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 12:40 AM
> 
> If you are an FFI user and like the proposed changes:
> a) Where do you see the advantage of it for your work? 

I am not able to see and advantage it appears to me that the requirement of
changing the code does not come with a corresponding benefit to me the user.
It may very well benefit the developers of the system and Squeak for future
enhancements but those benefits have not been well stated.  

I've been dealing with very bright programmers for 20 years now.  I lead
many great teams, and this is not the first time I've had this argument.  It
is always more fun to write systems when you have no users, and it is always
better to put a lot of effort into making sure you have a model that is
flexible so that changes can be made later, because once you commit to
something that is used by your system, esp. 24/7 systems you need support it
going forward unless there is a really really good reason to change it.

> How would you describe the value added? 

I can not.

>How would you argue to convince someone else that their code should be
>changed to the new model?

I can not.

> b) Since there is room for ambiguity in supporting the current FFI spec
> and the proposed changes, do you think both styles should be supported
> for an intermediate period?
>     b1) If yes, for how long?
>     b2) If no, how do you propose to deal with migration?

My proposal is that we use the better implementation if there is one to
support multiple syntaxes so that users are not required to change their
code, if that is possible.  If there isn't a better implementation I suggest
we focus our energies on something else.
	
> c) Given the choice, would you rather have an "inplace" change or
> perhaps an alternative version of the foreign function interface, aptly
> called FFII (pronounce as FF-2)?
> 

No I think this is a really bad idea.  It doesn't make sense to enhance the
system by forking off into a new area leaving users to wonder which path to
take.  You only double the support requirements, and again you require those
that want to migrate to the new system to change their code without
providing the benefit, or justification to do so, except maybe the threat
that future changes will only be made on the new version.

By the way, I've finished my FFI work on Microsoft Cryptographic Store.  I'm
able now to bring up user certificates and use them for security in
Smalltalk.  This was no easy feat, navigating the Microsoft security system
was pretty complicated.  You did a great job on FFI and I am very happy with
the results.  Thank you every one, esp. Andreas, John, Yoshiki and Nicolas
for your help and support.

Ron Teitelbaum