Start porting builder+tool subsystem from Java

Co-authored-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: ctrueden

.python-version

@@ -1 +1 @@
-3.9
+3.9

pyproject.toml

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "appose"
-version = "0.7.3.dev0"
+version = "0.8.0.dev0"
 description = "Appose: multi-language interprocess cooperation with shared memory."
 license = "BSD-2-Clause"
 authors = [{name = "Appose developers"}]
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ classifiers = [
     "Intended Audience :: Education",
     "Intended Audience :: Science/Research",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",

src/appose/__init__.py

@@ -216,22 +216,32 @@ def task_listener(event):
 
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from .builder import Builder
+from .builder import SimpleBuilder
 from .environment import Environment
 from .shm import NDArray, SharedMemory  # noqa: F401
 
 
-def base(directory: Path) -> Builder:
-    return Builder().base(directory)
+def base(directory: Path) -> SimpleBuilder:
+    """
+    Create a simple builder with a custom base directory.
 
+    Args:
+        directory: The base directory for the environment
 
-def java(vendor: str, version: str) -> Builder:
-    return Builder().java(vendor=vendor, version=version)
+    Returns:
+        A SimpleBuilder instance configured with the given directory
+    """
+    return SimpleBuilder().base(directory)
 
 
-def conda(environment_yaml: Path) -> Builder:
-    return Builder().conda(environment_yaml=environment_yaml)
+def system(directory: Path = Path(".")) -> Environment:
+    """
+    Create a simple environment using system executables.
 
+    Args:
+        directory: The working directory (defaults to current directory)
 
-def system(directory: Path = Path(".")) -> Environment:
-    return Builder().base(directory).use_system_path().build()
+    Returns:
+        An Environment that uses system PATH for finding executables
+    """
+    return SimpleBuilder().base(directory).append_system_path().build()