[Martenlist] That reminds me...

[Jack Small]

Luis and everybody,

On Jun 14, 2007, at 3:31 PM, Luis wrote:

> Erm, I'm a little concerned about Carbon, Apple's not bringing it  
> into the 64bit lineup...

Unfortunately, Apple's NDA prevents me from discussing their plans.  
Besides, I get the feeling they may change.

However, I can tell you about our plans. The Marten Engine does not  
rely on Carbon, and thus has a very clear path to being 64-bit  
clean.  I must admit that having just spent a year rewriting the  
engine for x86, we haven't actually put any 64-bit decisions in the  
current plan.  It's a big deal, as it is literally a new architecture  
- x86-64.  When we finished this transition, Scott and I agreed that  
we needed to concentrate on innovating Marten again instead of  
playing catch-up.   The 32-bit Macs we all have on our desks aren't  
going anywhere soon.

Our design allows us to insulate the IDE from the process that runs  
as your project, which means they can and sometimes are in different  
architectures.  This was done for a number of reasons, and was the  
right move.  So as long as we can build and run the IDE, 32-bit or  
not, we should be able to have any sort of process architecture we want.

We have started at the back end (the interpreter, the frameworks, and  
the compiler) and are making some compelling changes that will  
eventually have rather dramatic results on the front end.  We're  
excited about it and think it will be great for Marten.  It's a  
little early to discuss the details, and it's going to take us the  
rest of the year to polish it up right. You'll see some significant  
changes by the end of summer, but my goal is that before Christmas  
I'll be through about two pages of GUI modifications that include  
"instant re-opening of projects", "project templates", "project  
snapshots", and "comments everywhere".  Any of those sound useful?

Finally, let me assure you all that no matter what Apple has around  
the bend, Scott and I will do our very best to provide the best  
Marten there can be.  We have already done the impossible, so this  
kind of thing is right up our ally.  We will continue to have GUI Mac  
applications written in Marten one way or another.

I hope this helps ease your concerns a little.  I am sure there's  
another page or two in this 64-bit story.  Personally I was worried  
at the beginning of the week, but now, seeing the response from the  
community, not so much.  It wouldn't be the first time Apple's "bold  
plan for the future" announced at WWDC changed a bit or two before  
release date.  Anybody remember Copland, or Dylan, or OpenDoc, or...  
oh enough have a great weekend!

More later,
Jack