REBOL Developer News - Nov/2002
Here is a quick update on what's happening with REBOL - and, the many changes that you can expect
to see during November.
- REBOL/Core - Minor release that include bug fixes and changes.
Important fixes will include the /skip (file seek) problem, and /direct/read/lines problem, as well as others.
- REBOL/View - Including the above changes and a few new VID styles.
In addition, VID has been modified to reduce its memory usage by making a few fields of the VID-face object optional
in Layout. (For significant VID style changes, see below.)
- REBOL/Core and REBOL/View licenses - Will become less restrictive.
You can use as many copies of /Core and /View within your organization for free.
- REBOL/Base and REBOL/Face - We have created minimized versions
of REBOL that boot significantly faster and take much less memory. These versions are exclusively for professional
developers who want to shape precisely what they need from REBOL, and they will be part of our new SDK, mentioned
below.
- REBOL/Encap - A number of improvements have been made to Encap
to make it easier to build a single executable file that includes both REBOL and your program. This new version
includes a built-in preprocessor for #includes, better command line options (similar to what you would expect from
a compiler), drag and drop builds, and more optimized output. /Encap is part of the new SDK, below.
- REBOL/SDK - A new package for developers that includes /Base, /Face,
/Encap, prebol 2.0 (preprocessor), installer (you can now make custom self-installing programs), and source code
to REBOL source-based modules, including protocols, network modules, view modules (including the source code to
VID), and more. Programs created with the SDK can be used in an unlimited fashion within your organization (but,
sales of programs will require our standard /Encap royalty license). Price: $249 for standard package. Additional
costs for /Command modules and advance payment on redistribution. Relaxed licensing on use of REBOL API within
Encapped programs. Upgrades will be available to existing Encap users. Recent purchasers of Encap (2002) will receive
the SDK at no charge. Educational discounts are also available.
- REBOL/IOS - We will be updating REBOL/Serve and REBOL/Link to be
consistent with the above changes in related products. (E.g. so fixes like /skip seek will become available in
IOS reblets too.)
Other projects also underway:
- The VID Enhancement Project: Purpose is to improve the capabilities
of standard VID styles. This is a coordinated effort by a group of developers and us. Complete source code will
be available and open, and we hope to include it as part of future versions of REBOL/View.
- REBOL Script Library 2.0: Purpose is to significantly improve the
REBOL on-line script library. This is also a coordinated effort among a small team of developers who are using
IOS to collaborate and manage the library. More information to be released soon.
- New Feedback System - Yes, we will say it: "Our feedback system
sucks." There. Now you know that even we agree with you on that topic. We are overhauling the entire system
to allow us to: 1) more rapidly respond to feedback, 2) better keep track of bugs and enhancements, 3) provide
higher quality answers, 4) give you the option of being notified when a bug is fixed, 5) forward new FAQs to the
FAQ web-page in a timely fashion.
- Additional Programmer Documentation - For both View and IOS developers.
- Monthly "State of the REBOLion" updates - Starting as
of this message we will provide regular monthly news updates to keep you informed. (We also hope to recruit members
from the REBOL community to contribute useful information, hints, docs, and scripts.)
- Education support - In recent months we've also had a strong interest
from a variety of educational institutions, including many international universities, and we encourage and support
the use of REBOL for teaching new programming techniques and better methods of Internet communications. We will
offer significant discounts on our professional products to educational organizations.
Finally, we want to let you know that REBOL Technologies remains fully committed to our language,
products, and community. We know that REBOL is an amazing technology and tool. We use REBOL hundreds of times a
day in every facet of our business, and it has saved us significant time and money over the years. We hope you
have had a similar experience, and we will continue to improve on it.
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