[sword-devel] Web Interface

[Chris Little]

On 23 Feb 2003, Derek Neighbors wrote:

> If you want lots of people to propogate this work, you will need to
> construct it in a way that is accessible for them to install and make
> available to their user base.  I assume that fulfilling the great
> commission is the goal and so getting something like this in hands of as
> many willing to host as possible is optimal?

Though I agree portability should be a goal, I think these are actually
minor concerns.  There aren't going to be and don't need to be throngs of
servers providing the same identical interface.  There will be some since
some people like to control their whole site, but we don't need to target
people who have 10 meg user accounts that come free with their monthly
service or even most people with paid hosting plans as potential users of
the server-side componenets.  If you don't have the ability to install
your own software on the server (like libraries or Tomcat), you probably
ought to just link to someone else's site.
 
> If this is merely a web interface for crosswire.org site, then of course
> the backend doesnt matter one bit.  Just food for thought. (I only
> mention because at one time JavaServerPages was used for SWORD stuff)
> while its good stuff, it isnt highly available to the masses that would
> host stuff like this, in the way C, Perl, PHP and such are.
 
If Troy is going to do the implementation, I think the options are Java, 
C, and C++.  He seems to have religious objections to Perl and PHP. :)  
Since JSword is not at the level needed (most of the module drivers and 
filters still being absent I believe) I think you can probably expect 
something in C/C++.  It's just a guess, but I'd bet money on it (except 
that now Troy would implement in something else just to make me lose I'm 
sure).  So I think portability issues won't be any problem.

--Chris