Wow, so having a little distance from the project has really given me some perspective about the code that I have developed thus far.

• The Spring contexts are abysmally slow to start up, especially when the whole JVM is being created with every command line execution. I'm going to have to eliminate those contexts and do software initialization manually. That's not really an awful thing, since Spring contexts really excel at stateless objects, yet this solution is anything but stateless.
• The recording mechanism for the repeat and repeat-instruction elements is kind of wacky and needs to be rethought.
• We really need to have an independent object model of the knitting pattern. The problem is that too much of the logic which connects the algorithm defined in the XML to the knitting engine is in the form of XML visitors. It really needs to be working with an independent object model that can be pushed to the engine.

Any code junkies out there want to help me fix these?

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It's been nearly a year since KnitML first got off the ground. It has taught me a lot about open source, given me the chance to stay on top of some of the latest technologies, and taught me a lot about software architecture. Perhaps the best part about the project is that it's been my chance to combine my professional skills with one of my favorite hobbies.

So it is with sadness that I am forced to announce the hibernation of the KnitML project. I've come to face reality that I can no longer continue to do this by myself. I was really hoping to build a community of software developers that could deliver something extraordinary. Unfortunately, the vision, design, and implementation has almost exclusively been mine, and I have not been able to drum up enough interest. There is not much point in putting forth a specification which includes only one person's ideas, as it will never meet the needs of a global knitting community.

Also, there's nothing more effective for setting priorities straight than family. That said, my wife and I are expecting our first child in a few weeks! We are absolutely thrilled and can't wait to meet this new, special person about to come into our lives.

The web site, the downloads, the source code repository, and the issue tracker will of course remain open. Perhaps in the future I will start things back up again, or perhaps another soul will come along and continue with what we've started.

Thanks for everyone's support. May we meet someday again.

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I am very happy to announce that KnitML 0.3 has been released. This release includes a much-needed user's guide and solidifies support for the KnitML Expression Language (a.k.a. GroovyKnit). GroovyKnit should make writing KnitML files a breeze.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

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After a bit of a hiatus to concentrate on a software release for work (and a nice vacation to the Pacific Northwest), I am now gearing up to release KnitML 0.3, hopefully within a week. Not only will it include a series of bug fixes and enhancements, but I hope to have a fully annotated schema as well as more documentation and formality of the new GroovyKnit syntax.

I'll certainly keep you posted.

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KnitML 0.2 has been released! New features include:

• support for multi-color knitting, including schema changes and a new color swatch sample KnitML file
• more complete internationalization support
• support for binding off
• Groovy support
• first cut of a knitting pattern domain-specific language - much shorter and more intuitive than coding XML directly

Here is an example of how to apply the domain-specific language. Instead of writing this:

<row type="round">
  <repeat until="end">
    <purl>1</purl>
    <knit>2</knit>
    <purl>1</purl>
  </repeat>
</row>
<row type="round">
  <repeat until="end">
    <knit />
  </repeat>
</row>

You can write it like this:

round { repeatToEnd { p 1; k 2; p 1 } }
round { knitToEnd() }

I'll do a separate posting about writing in this expression language, as there are a few quirks to know about the way Groovy expresses functions. Once you learn the rules, though, it's free sailing.

Anyways, give the new release a go and let me know what you think!

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