web commit by antrik: Added description for language bindings task -- all tasks have at least skeleton descriptions now

1 files changed, 31 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/community/gsoc/project_ideas.mdwn b/community/gsoc/project_ideas.mdwn
index afe0906b..aead742d 100644
--- a/community/gsoc/project_ideas.mdwn
+++ b/community/gsoc/project_ideas.mdwn
@@ -685,3 +685,34 @@ mechanisms are necessary to handle stuff like dependencies on other packages.
 The goal of this task is to create these mechanisms.
 
 * Lisp, Python, ... bindings
+
+The main idea of the Hurd design is giving users the ability to easily
+modify/extend the system's functionality. This is done by creating filesystem
+translators, or sometimes other kinds of Hurd servers.
+
+However, in practice this is not as easy as it should, because creating
+translators and other servers is quite involved -- the interfaces for doing
+that are not exactly simple, and available only for C programs. Being able to
+easily create simple translators in RAD languages is highly desirable, to
+really be able to reap the advantages of the Hurd architecture.
+
+Originally Lisp was meant to be the second system language besides C in the GNU
+system; but that doesn't mean we are bound to Lisp. Bindings for any popular
+high-level language, that helps quickly creating simple programs, are highly
+welcome.
+
+Several approaches are possible when creating such bindings. One way is simply
+to provide wrappers to all the available C libraries (libtrivfs, libnetfs
+etc.). While this is easy (it requires relatively little consideration), it may
+not be the optimal solution. It is preferable to hook in at a lower level, thus
+being able te create interfaces that are specially adapted to make good use of
+the features available in the respective language.
+
+These more specialised bindings could hook in at some of the lower level
+library interfaces (libports, glibc, etc.); use the mig-provided RPC stubs
+directly; or even create native stubs directly from the interface definitions.
+
+The task is to create easy to use Hurd bindings for a language of the student's
+choice, and some example servers to prove that it works well in proctice. This
+project will require gaining a very good understanding of the various Hurd
+interfaces. Skills in designing nice programming interfaces are a must.