Re: [Savannah-hackers] submission of Server Side JavaScript Servlets - savannah.gnu.org

[Andy Madigan]

Sorry, I selected the wrong type by accident.
--- Elfyn McBratney <address@hidden> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I'm evaluating the project you submitted for approval in Savannah.
> 
> On Tue, Sep 07, 2004 at 07:43:57AM -0400, address@hidden
> wrote:
> > A package was submitted to savannah.gnu.org
> > This mail was sent to address@hidden,
> address@hidden
> > 
> > 
> > Andrew Madigan <address@hidden> described the package as
> follows:
> > License: gpl
> > Other License: 
> > Package: Server Side JavaScript Servlets
> > System name: ssjs
> > Type: GNU
> 
> Your project is not part of the GNU project, so we cannot accept its
> current type.
> We want to maintain the distinction between 'GNU' and 'non-GNU'
> projects. If your
> project is approved for inclusion into Savannah, we will set its type
> to 'non-GNU'.
> 
> If your project is accepted into the GNU project you may change its
> type.  You can
> do this by asking us.
> 
> > Description:
> > This project involves a way of creating servlets in JavaScript
> rather than Java.
> > I got the idea to do this because of two reasons:
> > 1. Neither JSP nor Servlets have any good method for separation of
> concerns.
> > 2. Development time for JSP and Serlvets is slow because both most
> be compiled to
> > class files first, and the java compiler is to slow for this to be
> acceptable on
> > a web server.
> > 
> > My first solution to this was to allow for XSLT in a servlet, I did
> this by
> > creating an abstract servlet that would perform the transform for
> the servlet that
> > extended it. This meant that changes to the design, or any
> database-independent
> > content could happen very quickly. This solved problem 1, but
> wasn't a perfect
> > solution to problem 2. Note that this also still allows for HTML
> data to be sent,
> > or even binary data.
> > 
> > I then discovered the Mozilla Rhino project
> (http://www.mozilla.org/rhino), I made
> > some modifications to the XSLT setup (which also improved speed)
> and created a
> > (concrete) servlet that performed a multi-step process to use
> javascript to generate
> > XML.
> > 
> > 1. A request comes in for a file, the servlet is generally mapped
> to *.ssjs
> > (Server-Side JavaScript), the file might be called index.ssjs.
> > 2. index.ssjs is actually an XML file, containing instructions for
> the servlet
> > telling it which XSLT stylesheets to use, and which script to
> execute.
> > 3. The script must contain a getContentType() method, which
> specifies which (of
> > several previously specified stylesheets) the servlet is to use,
> the method is
> > passed the request object for this purpose.
> > 4. doGet or doPost is called in the script, note that three
> parameters are passed:
> > request,response, and the writer to write to (if the content type
> sepecified matches
> > no stylesheet, this is request.getWriter(), otherwise it's a
> PipedWriter). This
> > function is expected to generate XML.
> > 5. While the XML is being generated, a DOM is built, this DOM is
> transformed to the
> > output.
> > 
> > This solved problem 2 because Rhino, while still creating classes,
> executes faster
> > than any java compiler could even dream of. This also had the added
> benefit that
> > many web developers know at least some JavaScript.
> > 
> > Two enhancements are planned: 
> > 1. A nicer binding to the servlet api, currently it relies on
> Rhino's ability to work
> > with Java Classes. I plan to make the interface more
> JavaScript-like. (e.g.
> > request.parameters["key"] should return the value of that
> parameter. 
> > 2. JSD (named to avoid confusion w/ JSP) meaning JavaScript
> documents. This would allow
> > the use of pseudo-tags in XML to create the XML. This would add a
> step of translation
> > to JavaScript before it could be executed. This wouldn't be
> intended to act like JSP,
> > but it would allow for a great amount of developer control. I
> already have simple parser
> > for parsing pseudo tags and sending them to handler, I also have a
> handler for
> > translation to JavaScript. The parser follows the general idea of
> SAX.
> > 
> > I will be posting the source code as it stands at
> www.geocities.com/andymadigan
> > momentarily (probably before you see this.) Note that the sources
> do not yet have GPL
> > notices on them. They will be put in later.   
> > 
> > Note: I have already tested this project because I actually used
> for a sumemer job (no
> > dev of this code was on the company's payroll, I wrote it because
> when I wrote a demo
> > for the proposal, it took so long I decided I needed a better way
> of doing it. I had
> > already been thinking about it, this just got me going.)
> 
> Please reply and include an (temporary) URL pointing to the source
> code.  The description
> you gave when registering will not be read by the general public. If
> you are still
> concerned with privacy, however, you can forward the code to me by
> email (to
> address@hidden).
> 
> We wish to review your source code, even if it is not functional, to
> catch potential legal
> issues early.  
> 
> For example, to release your program properly under the GPL you must
> include a copyright
> notice and permission-to-copy statements at the beginning of every
> file of source code.
> This is explained in http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.html.  Our
> review would help
> catch potential omissions such as these.
> 
> > Other Software Required:
> > This is a java project. The dependencies are as follows: 
> > -Mozilla Rhino (NPL/GPL)
> > -JAXP (aelfred is used, so this must be GNU JAXP, see note below)
> > -A Servlet Container (I am currently trying to make it work in
> paperclips, it works
> > perfectly in tomcat) Tomcat is Apache though, so I obviously want
> this to work with a
> > GPL'd container.
> > -Everything listed above is available in SableVM, and can also be
> compiled using GCJ.
> > 
> > Note that while one goal of this project is to ame it work
> perfectly on a Free OS, I
> > also don't want to make a java project that can't work in a
> non-free OS, or that might
> > be hard to make GPL. Since I can't seem to get GNU JAXP's XSLT
> support to work under
> > windows, future versions may use James Clark's XT (I am beginning
> changes now, I have
> > already tested (and modified) XT for this purpose) at least until
> GNU JAXP is truly
> > cross-platform. XT is under the MIT license.
> 
> If you are willing to make the changes mentioned above, please
> provide
> us with an URL to an updated tarball of your project.  Upon review,
> we
> will reconsider your project for inclusion in Savannah.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> -- 
> Elfyn McBratney
> beu on irc.freenode.net/savannah.[non]gnu.org
> 
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