Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Oakum
My first project at Lotus was a multi-dimensional spreadsheet called Lotus Improv. The first release didn't include a programming environment (e.g. anything like Office VBA) but one was in the works. The language for this environment was called "Oakum". The main developer was enamored with building wooden ships and "oakum" is a material used to caulk the seams in ships (kind of like glue).
Oakum's syntax was similar to HyperTalk / HyperScript which looks less like a traditional programming language; more chatty like Logo. It was pretty slick. Unfortunately for Oakum, Lotus decided that it would be better to standardize on a single embedded programming language / IDE for all desktop products. That language was LotusScript which first shipped as part of Improv 2.0 for Windows. LotusScript eventually shipped with all Lotus products including Notes/Domino. It was a better business decision than going with Oakum since LotusScript is relatively easy to learn if you already knew Visual Basic. But I thought Oakum was a such cool name for a scripting language.
By the way, the original name for the Java programming was Oak (so called because there was an oak tree outside James Gosling's office window). Oak came a few years after Oakum's conception, development and demise. They're unrelated except for having similar names.
Oakum's syntax was similar to HyperTalk / HyperScript which looks less like a traditional programming language; more chatty like Logo. It was pretty slick. Unfortunately for Oakum, Lotus decided that it would be better to standardize on a single embedded programming language / IDE for all desktop products. That language was LotusScript which first shipped as part of Improv 2.0 for Windows. LotusScript eventually shipped with all Lotus products including Notes/Domino. It was a better business decision than going with Oakum since LotusScript is relatively easy to learn if you already knew Visual Basic. But I thought Oakum was a such cool name for a scripting language.
By the way, the original name for the Java programming was Oak (so called because there was an oak tree outside James Gosling's office window). Oak came a few years after Oakum's conception, development and demise. They're unrelated except for having similar names.
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