Re: Prayertime Library

[Nadim Shaikli <shaikli at yahoo dot com>]

--- abdulhaq <al at alinsyria dot fsnet dot co dot uk> wrote:
> from my perspective I would appreciate a look at other time calculation 
> methods and an analysis of them. I am considering offering the user a choice 
> of methods.

Great.

> I would suggest a library to calculate times that could be linked to by all 
> the GUI programs (I think this is being done already?). As I said, 
> alternative methods available in the library would be good. I don't think 
> it's possible to settle on one 'best' algorithm but I am prepared to be 
> persuaded on that. In my view there is a sparsity of information in the 
> aHaadeeth that leads to valid and genuine differences of opinions, not only 
> in the fiqh, but also in the astronomical techniques.

Agreed, I'm sure there will be various opinions (which is perfectly fine),
we simply need to account for all those opinions and options in the
library to keep the work in one central place and not to fork-off various
efforts (there is nothing precluding this library from having as many
options as we deem necessary).  BTW: we have a soon-to-be Doctor in
astronomy amongst us (yup, he's almost done with his PhD), Youcef Rahal
is here (well, in 3-weeks) if we need to consult him on any astronomical
questions/opinions :-)  Gotta love diversity.

> As regards GUI developments, I believe that in general they should all be 
> encouraged as different people have different requirements. It is unlikely 
> that any porting would be of any use since the bulk of the code in these 
> programs is GUI related, i.e. it will be very different between KDE vs. 
> GNOME, applets vs. applications etc.

Yup, once the library is done and we have a primitive command-line option
and implementation then the GUIs/applets/etc can all simply use that lib
to implement things in any way/shape/form they see fit (look-n-feel is a
very complex problem :-)  The library is paramount though and we need to
settle on something soon.
 
> I am already suscribed to the groups and have read the archives relating to 
> this subject. I do need to become a member to avoid the time lag for the 
> moderation process.

I see you are subscribed as 'al-arabeyes -at alinsyria.fsnet....' but you
post using 'al -at- alinsyria.fsnet....', in order to bypass the holding
of all your messages, you should either subscribe your 'al' email address
or post under your 'al-arabeyes' email address.  Hope that makes sense.

Salam.

 - Nadim


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