[aplusdev] Win port revisited (Cross Platform GUI)

[stevan apter]

a two process approach is bearing unanticipated fruit:  we can distribute
applications which have the following architecture:

the user is connected to the internet and has downloaded the java jar file
(small, the general purpose k gui engine).

the server is running a lightweight general purpose gateway process J->K.

when the user starts up the app, the gui engine J is started on his machine,
which connects with J->K.  J->K spawns a k application process K, and a
handshake is established between J and K.  Thereafter, K and J are in direct
communication.

the major benefits to this architecture are (i) the application is 100% pure
k, and (ii) it lives entirely on the server.  the user's machine requires
neither the k dll nor (this is the important part) any of the application
logic.

it seems to me that A+ can be retooled along similar lines, independently of
the mstk gui.  indeed, mike and i have published enough information about
the k trigger architecture so that, together with arthur's java
communications class (also public), the motivated programmer can duplicate
our work without much difficulty.