Re: interactivity & other general questions

[Marcus G. Daniels]

>>>>> "VB" == Vickie M Backus <address@hidden> writes:

VB> 2) i'm curious to know why Swarm was not entirely converted over
VB> to java.  i understand about issues of speed, but even relatively
VB> inexpensive computers today can have lots of RAM and very fast (or
VB> multiple) processors, so speed alone doesn't seem to be a big
VB> factor.

There are many Swarm users who have an investment in Objective C.
It's unrealistic to think they will learn Java right away and rewrite
their models...

Integration with foreign code is more an issue than speed, really.
For example, COM is what would facilitate an ArcInfo space library
interface.  The speed of Java Swing is indeed a concern, though.
Further, there isn't a freely redistributable and source-modifiable
implementation Swing. 

We already have binary packages for most platforms, and Swarm is known
to run on platforms where Sun JDK 1.3 hasn't even been ported.
(e.g. FreeBSD, OSF, etc.).  I expect we'll even support MacOSX in the
next release -- if Apple would just get with it and clean-up their compiler
modifications. 

VB> 3)mozilla and DOM: i'm a GIS user and the idea of easy integration
VB> of Swarm with ArcInfo is very appealing to me.

Mozilla components are implemented in COM, and we sought a Swarm
plug-in to Mozilla so that modelers could share documents instead of
programs.  That meant we had to teach Swarm how to talk COM.  Most
Windows-based apps (like ArcInfo) also talk COM, so it gives us a new
integration capability.

VB> when is the next release of swarm anticipated and will it provide
VB> easy integration with ArcInfo?

It's not anticipated.  However, I have spoken at length to engineers
at ESRI about the idea, and we've identified several alternative approaches.
The best way to make it happen is to let ESRI know this is a feature
that would be used.  If people would send me contacts and brief bios,
I could forward them on and that might help convince them. 

VB> i would like to write my model in java, will i have to convert my
VB> model to something different if i want to use the next release of
VB> swarm?  and will the integration with ArcInfo be straight forward,
VB> or will some kind of interface need to be built?

We'd make sure it would work with Java.  Perhaps you'd import something
like swarm.gis.esriraster.


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