[colorforth] jpeg decoder

[Dirk Harms-Merbitz <dirk@xxxxxxxxx>]

Chasing C implementations of committee standards is problematic
because it leads to unavoidable bloat and uglyness.  

ColorForth exchanges source code so we cannot hide the uglyness 
in object code.

But with a network connection we can hide the uglyness in a Linux
box.

On Thu, May 30, 2002 at 08:53:32AM -0700, John Drake wrote:
> 
> --- Jack Johnson <fragment@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Dirk Harms-Merbitz wrote:
> > > What will you do about Flash? QuickTime? Real?
> > > 
> > > If people are willing to code for colorForth then
> > please
> > > do not try to emulate Linux. We already have
> > Linux.
> > 
> > I have to nitpick here.
> 
> I hope you don't mind if I nitpick on top of your
> nitpick.  :-)
> 
>  
> > There are a number of CF enthusiasts who would like
> > to be able to read 
> > various file formats for various reasons.  Some
> > excellent examples of 
> > needing JPEG encoders/decoders would be interfacing
> > with digital 
> > cameras, foundation for a Web browser,
> > interoperability with legacy 
> > systems, etc.
> > 
> > That's not to say that we all need them -- that they
> > should be made part 
> > of ColorForth proper-- but there can be value to
> > sharing code for things 
> > that get repeated often.
> 
> Taking this argument to its logical extreme does
> ANY graphics file format need to be part of
> "ColorForth proper", even one that's newly
> invented?  You've listed some applications
> where a JPEG decoder would be nice.  But there
> are many applications that don't require
> graphics at all.  For example, any device
> designed for the blind.  In that case speech
> synthesis would be vital.  Speech regonition
> would be nice.  Any graphics decoder of any
> kind would be dead weight.  I think it's
> important to keep things modular enough to
> add in what you need when you need it.
>  
> > Something else to consider is that though many of
> > these legacy systems 
> > come with a lot of baggage, they also come with a
> > lot of history.  Sure, 
> > we could all roll-our-own audio compression scheme,
> > but psychoacoustic 
> > compression is extremely efficient and extremely
> > difficult to do from 
> > scratch.  The ability to read format X doesn't turn
> > CF into Linux, it 
> > just makes CF that much more useful when looking for
> > a solution to a 
> > problem.
> 
> My thoughts exactly!  It's one thing to come up with
> your own graphics format because you have some actual
> thoughts on how to do it better.  It's another to
> come up with a graphics format just to be different
> from Linux.  (And Windows, and Mac, and iTV 4os,
> and Oberon, and QNX and every other operating
> system on the planet that supports JPEG.)
>  
> > I mean, come on, you might as well make the argument
> > that we shouldn't 
> > have a mouse driver because that would make us too
> > much like Windows.
> > 
> > -Jack
> 
> I suppose you can put the computer in the mouse
> like Jeff Fox.  :-)  (I'm still impressed by that
> demo.)
> 
> Regards,
> 
> John M. Drake
> 
> 
> 
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