Hi everyone,
Assuming C/C++ is the most used language by folks here, this:
http://www.softinteg.../press/20040928.htmlshould come as a handy piece of information.
let me quote a bit:
SoftIntegration, Inc. today announced the availability of Ch 4.7, Ch SDK 4.7 and Embedded Ch 4.7. Ch is an embeddable C/C++ interpreter for cross-platform scripting, 2D/3D plotting, numerical computing, shell programming and embedded scripting.
I jumped a couple of times
Thirty-six new APIs are added in Ch SDK and Embedded Ch for easier interface with binary C/C++ libraries and embedded scripting.
Sounds good
Ch and Embedded Ch toolkit provide a framework and development environment that enabled the development of an extremely flexible Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) environment.
and sufficiently sophisticated
Pricing and Availability:
Ch and Embedded Ch for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, HP-UX and FreeBSD are available. Ch Standard Edition is free for both commercial and non-commercial uses in all platforms. Ch Professional Edition is free for academic use and costs $399 for personal or commercial use.
Now they're talking! FREE!!
However, I've not done any programming in Ch and it does not look all that great because you still have to write all the code that you wrote in C/C++.
AND THEREIN LIES AN OPPORTUNITY! 1. See, there are a whole lot of libraries in c/c++ out there doing good things. They could either be used directly from inside this c/c++ thing. Or, they could be ported. That is one.
2. They have something like an ActiveX Control for deployment on web pages much like your traditional Microsoft ActiveX objects or say even Java applets. If you manage to get such controls into your web page you can develop Rich Internet Applications as well. I jolly well know that Java failed, but someone(not necessarily one of us) just has to hack Ch and get it to make digitally signable applets/controls and you can have an ActiveX platform for deploying RIAs.
3. There is integration with existing webservers like Apache (1.3.x and 2.x) to do.
4. Porting to .Net comes to mind
5. Porting to Mono follows
Opinions/flames/suggestions invited
Best wishes,
-2stepsback
PS: some more links:
http://www.softintegration.com/demos/http://www.softinteg...mos/toolkit/windows/http://www.softinteg...s/toolkit/mechanism/http://www.softinteg...mos/toolkit/control/ 
