10 Future Aspects

 

As with all software projects there is always room left for optimizations and new options. Here are some quick notes what can be done in the future:

1. Since C++ seems the language of the future for new software developments it would be nice to have a better support for C++ template code. The problem of automatic instantiation will be not solved in the near future by the compiler. Under VMake this problem is currently solved using UNFUG but this approach requires to understand LISP. The use of multiple rules are necessary for this approach. A special rule to define code templates and their respective instantiation would be very nice and helpful. Using the full power of the built-in LISP interpreter of VMake this should make it possible to reduce the requirement of the LISP code significantly in template instantiation.
2. Since EMACS[Sta96] is a widely used editor by software developers it would be nice to implement a special mode in EMACS which supports VMake similar to make. This would allow to jump directly to source lines with error messages to correct them. It should be possible to use VMake in interactive mode from EMACS to speed up the dependence check and build process.
3. Currently VMake is controlled by a command line interface and an interactive mode base on single input lines. In times of window based applications this is no longer the state of the art and cuts down the acceptance of a tool. Especially unexperienced user would like to have a window based front end to the tool.
4. An additional goal for the future is to adapt the VBS library for WindowsNT because it seems that everyone wants to use it and that it can't be denied any longer as used platform for developments.
5. And as usual, make the program faster and better and ...