Parrot "standard libraries"

[Chris Fields]

On Jul 31, 2009, at 6:47 PM, Geoffrey Broadwell wrote:

> On Fri, 2009-07-31 at 15:37 -0700, Geoffrey Broadwell wrote:
>> Some IRC discussion in #perl6 about this, covering a few points I  
>> hadn't
>> seen previously in this thread:
>>
>>    http://irclog.perlgeek.de/perl6/2009-07-31#i_1358894
>
> That thread petered off after 22 minutes, at 22:15 log time.  However,
> it picks up with some excellent points from pmichaud at 22:54 log  
> time:
>
>    http://irclog.perlgeek.de/perl6/2009-07-31#i_1359027
>
> In particular, pmichaud and I found general common ground on the
> following heirarchy of libraries:
>
> 1. True core
>
> Just what is needed to get read access to the module repo.  Parrot
> release management owns these (they are considered part of Parrot in
> every sense, including deprecation cycles), and they should be truly a
> minimal set.
>
> 2. Basic batteries
>
> The stuff everyone has hashed to death, agree on, and (like DBDI)  
> form a
> common layer through which other things are easy to plug in.  The  
> Parrot
> and HLL teams work together to decide what goes into this set, with a
> general preference for less rather than more.  We may want to have a
> separate "basic batteries release manager" who takes care of making
> these releases (perhaps on the same day as Parrot Core, perhaps a  
> day or
> two later), thus taking stress and politics off the Parrot Core  
> release
> manager.
>
> 3. Power packs
>
> What we currently think are the most common modules people would want
> for a particular market segment.  For example, there could be a "Power
> Pack for Scientists" and a "Power Pack for Hackers".  Anyone should be
> able to create and manage power packs, and it is expected that the
> market place of ideas will do its magic -- for example, someone may
> decide to make a "Power Pack for Bioinformatics" that has more focus  
> and
> depth than the general scientific pack.  These are explicitly NOT
> managed by the Parrot team; we merely support the tools necessary to
> make them easy to install.  I personally think we should try to  
> create a
> culture among the power pack owners to deprecate and clean regularly,
> but as pmichaud pointed out, there is likely a market for power packs
> (especially in the business spaces) that make stability and long-term
> support the primary goal.
>
> 4. Go use the module repo
>
> If you need anything not in a power pack, just use the module repo
> directly; the tools to use it are after all part of Parrot Core.
>
>
> -'f

Speaking as a computational biologist, this makes the most sense to  
me.  Good thing I just got the PIR book!

chris (aka pyrimidine)