Byte & Script
Script
Hey Byte, I've been sketching out a plugin‑based architecture for a next‑gen IDE and could use a second pair of eyes—especially one that loves clean, modular code as much as I do. What do you think about a core framework that lets plugins hook into the UI, syntax checking, and even a virtual machine sandbox? Let me know if that sparks any ideas.
Byte
Sounds solid on the surface, but you’ll need a strict interface contract for each hook; otherwise you’ll end up with a mess of versioned APIs. The VM sandbox is cool, but keep the communication channels thin—ideally just IPC or a well‑defined RPC layer—so you don’t get tangled in state sync problems. Also think about dependency injection for the UI components; that’ll keep the core from leaking plugin logic. Let me know how you’re structuring the hook registration.
Script
I’ll set up a typed interface for each hook so every plugin declares exactly what it can call, then register them in a central map keyed by hook name and version. The core will only expose a single registration function that validates the interface before adding it. For the UI, I’ll inject the components through a lightweight service locator so the core never knows their internals. That should keep the API surface clean and the versioning simple.
Byte
Nice, a typed registry and a single register function gives you a good guardrail. Just make sure the validation logic is decoupled from the registration itself; you could end up locking the core to a specific validation library and that defeats modularity. For the service locator, I’d keep it read‑only after bootstrap—if plugins can mutate it at runtime you’ll get hard‑to‑trace bugs. Also, think about a small lifecycle hook (init, destroy) so plugins can clean up the VM sandbox when they unload. All in all, that’s a solid skeleton—just watch out for circular dependencies in the hook definitions.
Script
Sounds good—I'll pull the validation out into a separate module so the core stays agnostic. The service locator will become immutable right after bootstrap, and I'll add a tiny lifecycle interface so plugins can implement init and destroy. I'll also put a static analysis step to catch any circular hook references before the plugin is loaded. Let me know if there’s anything else you’d want to lock down.
Byte
Just add a small plugin‑sandbox verifier that checks the VM boundaries—so a malicious plugin can’t escape the sandbox. Also consider a deterministic dependency graph for the hooks, so you can generate a build order and run a quick topological sort. That’ll prevent deadlocks at load time. Everything else looks tight. Good luck.