IDE Without C Modules

[tajmone]

Now that @kenmo-pb has implemented the Myers' diff algorithm in PureBasic (in pb-diff-implementation branch), in order to get rid of libmba C dependency, we could attempt to create an alternative build system for Windows that doesn't require any C components (Linux and macOS still need some other C dependencies).

It might also be worth setting up some benchmarking to compare performance between the PB implementation and the original libmba version. So this is going to take some time and require planning, but it definitely should be worth it.

Links

• fantaisie-software/purebasic#38 — upstream discussion on getting rid of C deps.
• PureBasicIDE/libmba/diff.c — original Myers' diff in C, from libmba.
• PureBasicIDE/libmba/README.md
• libmba homepage
• @kenmo-pb PB implmentation of Myers' diff:
  • pb-diff-implementation branch:
    • PureBasicIDE/EditHistory-Diff.pb — new diff algorithm.

[tajmone]

@kenmo-pb, I would like to create an independent repository for your Myer's Diff PB implementation, which is going to be useful in other projects too — i.e., unless you want to create it yourself, in which case I'll just fork it.

This would allow to provide easier benchmarking and testing, in isolation from the IDE. We could also include the libmba C version for comparing performance.

Would it be OK with you to release it under MIT license? The current dual license GPL + Fantasie license wouldn't fit most projects' needs.

Even if you license the algorithm under MIT, you can still contribute it to the IDE repo under the GPL + Fantasie license, since you're the author. But I think that you could also keep that single under MIT without conflicts.