[Biojava-l] Java code ???

[Thomas Down]

On Thu, Jan 20, 2000 at 08:54:46PM -0800, Ann Loraine wrote:
> I also have been writing a lot of Java code - mostly for 
> Berkeley Drosopila Genome Project Web site.
> 
> The code I've written for BDGP uses a widget set from Neomorphic
> Software, which I highly recommend by the way!  But I also
> work there part-time so I'm a bit biased :-)
> 
> Which brings me to a question ... can/should we contribute code
> that requires a third-party, non-open source library?  
> 
> I think it would be fine to contribute the code I wrote at 
> BDGP to biojava.org - I just wonder if doing this would go
> against the spirit of the project.
> 
> What do you think?

Well, as I said before, I'm certainly interested
to see any code that's around...

I'd prefer any BioJava core materials to stay open
source if at all possible (right now I'm thinking
about LGPL, or possibly MPL, for the packages
developed here).  On the other hand, this doesn't
necessarily rule out code with proprietary dependancies,
so long as it's not essential.

I had a quick look at the Neomorphic web site, but
couldn't actually see any links to the widget set.
I presume you're talking about a library of user
interface components?  Generally, the ideal approach
to take in this case is to follow design patterns
where the data model and user interface are in separate
classes (maybe even separate packages), with well-defined
interfaces.  Always makes the code easier to maintain,
and it means that people can use your data models without
an absolute dependacy on the user interface (and vice
versa).

Thomas.
-- 
``Science is magic that works''  -- Kurt Vonnegut.