thanks. i'm on Windows though and slightly fascist and unreasonable in that i'm not particularly worried about the program working on another platform. i should have mentioned that though. (also i think if anyone needs a noob-oriented IDE, it's going to be Windows users)
The same system should work for windows. Windows does support named pipes, and you don't have to use unix shell code to launch the arc process, since you're writing another program anyway.
Yes, but anyone running Windows is much less likely to use emacs or vim over some gui ide. Linux users are much more likely to be willing to learn those two.
i actually use Vim which is more than sufficient for my needs. what i'm thinking of making is a completely noob-oriented IDE, one where ideally the user does not even have to know about mzscheme this or arc3.tar that
i think both can be done, no need for compromising. the problem with CL is its size/complexity, which is the complete opposite of Arc. also i doubt mzscheme will be Arc's final platform
that said, i've been wondering how quick it would be to grab the source for DrScheme, shoehorn Arc into it, and release it as a single-install, works-right-outta-the-box IDE
Using mzscheme as some sort of high-level virtual machine isn't a bad idea as it may seem. In fact, I think that it could be quite practical even in the lon period. Speed is not blazingly fast, but it is quite good, and you get stability and a good portability without effort.
Some times ago I started a GTK+ binding, now "paused". It's more boring than I thought initially. If you wish look at it for a starting point (file gtk.arc in Anarki). I now think a binding towards tcl/tk would look nicer and easier to use, though.