Q: Why don't you get a life, instead of playing with kid's toys?
A: Go away.
Q: Why are you doing this?
A: For a start, because I don't run a PC and so the existing tools don't work for me.
Q: But what about the existing tools?
A: 'Foilmaker' et al are a very good start. However, they are restricted to a single purpose, and as a result they restrict you to certain design ideas. I want a flexible tool that is as applicable to stunt kite design and windsocks as it is to soft foils. I also want it to run on my machine, dammit.
Q: Isn't this architecture a bit of overkill?
A: To a certain extent, yes. Most of the users will never want to design windsocks, most of them will use a single, monolithic build. But some users - perhaps the manufacturers? - would be able to use a more flexible architecture. And if you're going to do it, why not do it _right_?
Q: I hate C++! I want a tool written in [insert language here]! You're using C++! YOU ARE LAME!
A: That's not a question.
But the reasons for using C++ are this:
And anyway, if you want to add Perl / Python / C / Tk / whatever bindings, you can go for it. It's an open source project, after all, and I won't complain.
Q: How can I help?
A: At the moment, XML work needs doing on the DTD. It's very very wrong at the moment. There is an xml-dtd mailing list at the sourceforge site for discussion of exactly this topic.. Coding hasn't really started so C++ hacking is not needed yet.