Re: The fate of ob-asymptote.el

[Jarmo Hurri <jarmo.hurri@iki.fi>]

Hello again.

Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@gmail.com> writes:

> Jarmo Hurri <jarmo.hurri@iki.fi> writes:
>> As a result, changes in Org are much more likely to affect
>> ob-asymptote.el than changes in Asymptote. I think basic software
>> development rules of thumb suggest that ob-asymptote.el should then
>> be bundled with Org.
>
> From my point of view ob-asymptote.el is as bare bones as babel
> library can be. It does not use any fancy Org babel features like
> sessions, error display of converting the output to various :results
> output options.
>
> In contrast, it does a lot of work trying to convert Elisp types to
> Asymptote in `org-babel-asymptote-var-to-asymptote`.

Fair point. Then again, the involved datatypes of Asymptote are,
practically, immutable.

I can not resist pointing out that we are having this discussion because
of changes in Org, not because of changes in Asymptote. I consider Org
much more volatile than Asymptote.

But I might be digressing. A bit of a summary:

- I embrace a (any) maintained feature which extends the applicability
  of Org without compromising "the core." I have had great moments
  noticing that Org already supports something new I need.

- Asymptote is brilliant. :-) I hope I can provide connectivity to Org
  for current and future users. When I shrivel away, this support might
  get buried next to me.

- Org contrib basically advertises itself as unmaintained. While that
  may change, and there is in fact a request to help maintain the
  add-ons on the github page, I am pessimistic. I would not install it,
  so I doubt others would either.

- I see Org as the logical place for ob-asymptote.el. If this is
  rejected, I may try inclusion into Asymptote if it is not an uphill
  battle.

> From my point of view, any kind of new functionality in
> ob-asymptote.el requires a deep knowledge about the Asymptote
> programming - the knowledge most of the Org devs lack. At the same
> time, changes in Org babel core functionality are unlikely to cause
> any issues in ob-asymptote - we try our best to keep backwards
> compatibility with third-party babel packages anyway.

Does this suggest that, from the point of view of Org, the risk of
supporting ob-asymptote.el is minimal?

All the best,

Jarmo