So I’ve got plans for a larger scale social network analysis tool in my future, however for right now, I need to get some of the groundwork laid. I realize that some of the key components of such a tool are going to be IronPython, for handling of scripting various modules, and a good command line interface. The major problem that I see with most tools right now is that either they run exclusively in batch mode or require a GUI. What I want is a prompt where I can run my analysis as though I’m programming.
Anyone who has taken the time to use command prompt programs and programming languages knows what a great blessing a good input system can be. As far as I’m concerned, GNU Readline is the tops when it comes to this. However, I was dismayed because there was no obvious binding to provide support for Mono. That is, until now.
Today I announce the first release of Mono.Readline. Basically it’s a little binding that creates a stub library to allow Mono to access the GNU Readline library. It’s hella cool. And best of all, I didn’t really write it. It’s mainly ripped out of Martin Baulig’s code in the mono debugger, but this way it’s easier to use and get access to. All in a nice autoconf’ed package for you. So go ahead, download mono-readline 0.0.1 today! Please, also let me know what you think about it as this is the first real package I’ve put out using the autotools.