[Bf-committers] Languages other then python in Blender 2.5?

[Campbell Barton]

Much of blenders 2.5's scripting will boil down to RNA access or
calling operators, making it easy to add access to new languages.

The 2.4x py api was such a monstrosity nobody wanted to do this for
another language but Id guess a 2.5 api for lua could be done in
1000-2000 lines,
with RNA and Operator changes automatically accessible from the thin
API (just like the py api).

IMHO it's quite likely that with Blender's popularity some developer
will try this even if we don't ask for it.

If someone adds access to another scripting language (say Lua, Ruby,
ECMA-Script) and will maintains its-
 Would this be acceptable to include with Blender?

I ask this because it influences how the new Python API accesses
blender functionality. If other languages are likely to be added
later, its more important to keep the current python api access
generic without hand written C/Python functions.

Some arguments for and against this...

Pros - (probably missed some since i don't use other scripting languages)
* Makes developers of "insert-fav-language" happy/productive
* Allows switching to Mono, Lua, Ruby or whatever - if for some reason
we want to???
* keeps the api generic so we dont slip into adding evil hacks for one language.
* Some languages are better then python for certain tasks.

Cons
* May end up with many half supported languages, rather then 1 well
supported language.
* Complicates building/installing blender (bloat)
* May complicate changes to the C rna and operator api breaking one
language but not another.
* Fragments scripting community
* * maintainers need to know more languages
* * makes it harder to read/review scripts in blender that were
written in different languages
* * documentation for new users will vary from between languages.

Id like to be clear on weather this is a possibility for 2.5 or not.

*Note* Ignoring the BGE PyAPI here, that will not be changed much in
2.5 since python is built into the C++ classes.

-- 
- Campbell