> A comment on the hope for a common runtime: I think this will buy you
> less than you think.  ...

   A common runtime could at least produce a common library interface.
Wrapping each API once each for Perl, Tcl, Ruby and Python is a waste of
time. Some APIs will be difficult to wrap because of callbacks or threading
issues etc., but a lot are simple and could be wrapped generically.

   Maybe Mark Hammond's enthusiasm for .NET is partly a desire to never
again have to run SWIG over Microsoft's latest API changes. With .NET, all
the languages have access to all the libraries.

   A message covering related topics just appeared on c.l.ruby so they may
want to be included too.

   Neil