ecsl@netbloc.com: 9585: [ECS] Re: If, Then, Else, Etc

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[ECS] Re: If, Then, Else, Etc
Dan Butterfield
Thu, 16 Nov 2000 12:44:43 -0600

Thu, 16 Nov 2000 12:44:43 -0600

J Peter Young said:
  For me, the biggest single improvement that could be made to ECS is to
replace the existing language with a real language - Java or VB.

  Please do not do this.
  The last thing I need is a language, I just want to automate my house.
  Got to work and pay the bills the rest of the time.
  How would a language improve anything? All I would get is the ability to
rewrite everything that already WORKS.

  The biggest improvement would be to enhance the interface to the user.
  Add more capabilities to the stuff for internet browser control.
  And support touch screens like Leopard.
Well, even though I'm not an expert at it (yet!), I agree on not getting rid
of the ECS language - current users have too much invested in it.  However,
what would be nice is an automation interface for a language like Java / VB
(VB has more easily accessible tools) that allows me to access items /
events inside ECS from an external program.  The current Java interface is a
start, but a previous query I made on this list indicated it does not let
you perform all the functions in ECS (I stopped investigating it at that
point, so I really don't know specifically how it's limited).

What I want is something that would allow me to encapsulate ECS function /
hardware support and access it from a language I'm familiar with.  I also
just want to automate my house; I don't want to learn a new (and somewhat
idiosyncratic) language.  Give me access from an external language, and
instantly I get a modern GUI environment for developing advanced
applications and user interfaces, plus programs that already can be
integrated to bunches of other systems (databases, hardware ECS doesn't
support, etc).

I have no idea how difficult such an interface would be to develop; since
ECS already has a somewhat regular psuedo object-oriented model (e.g. items
and events), maybe a simple mapping could be developed that would give an
external program access to everything those perform.

- Dan Butterfield  (dan@butterfields.net)

J Peter Young said:

For me, the biggest single improvement that could be made to ECS is to replace the existing language with a real language - Java or VB.

Please do not do this.

The last thing I need is a language, I just want to automate my house.

Got to work and pay the bills the rest of the time.

How would a language improve anything? All I would get is the ability to rewrite everything that already WORKS.

The biggest improvement would be to enhance the interface to the user.

Add more capabilities to the stuff for internet browser control.

And support touch screens like Leopard.

Well, even though I'm not an expert at it (yet!), I agree on not getting rid of the ECS language - current users have too much invested in it. However, what would be nice is an automation interface for a language like Java / VB (VB has more easily accessible tools) that allows me to access items / events inside ECS from an external program. The current Java interface is a start, but a previous query I made on this list indicated it does not let you perform all the functions in ECS (I stopped investigating it at that point, so I really don't know specifically how it's limited).

What I want is something that would allow me to encapsulate ECS function / hardware support and access it from a language I'm familiar with. I also just want to automate my house; I don't want to learn a new (and somewhat idiosyncratic) language. Give me access from an external language, and instantly I get a modern GUI environment for developing advanced applications and user interfaces, plus programs that already can be integrated to bunches of other systems (databases, hardware ECS doesn't support, etc).

I have no idea how difficult such an interface would be to develop; since ECS already has a somewhat regular psuedo object-oriented model (e.g. items and events), maybe a simple mapping could be developed that would give an external program access to everything those perform.

- Dan Butterfield (dan@butterfields.net)