Re: Would a standard 'universal' GUI specification be useful?

[Michael Erdmann <erdmann@boavista.snafu.de>]

Tucker Taft wrote:

> Nick Roberts (Nick.Roberts@dial.pipex.com) wrote:
>
> : ...
> : A standard 'universal' GUI facility (in the form, I fancy, of a hierarchy of
>
> I would recommend you base this either on the Java AWT, or
> on RR's "Claw."  No need to start from scratch in this area.
> The advantage of basing it on the Java AWT is that you may
> be able to reuse the existing "DLL"s/Shared libraries that
> implement the low-level functionality of the Java AWT,
> allowing you to write the rest of the code in "portable" Ada.

I think this is a popular idea but what it realy means  is that Ada-Programswill
look like java programs regarding the user interface.
I have seen to  often code which i was not able to reuse in a new enviroment
because the impact of the GUI was scattered all over the System (i.e
in Java Appl, Motiv due to event handlers and call backs etc.).
Before attempting something like this we should think about a simple to reuse
GUI concept, that clearly seperates GUI and application. Based on
this idea a set of abstract interfaces should be defined which could
implemented based on the Java AWT Motif or what ever.

>
>
> : ...
> : --
> : Nick Roberts
> : ThoughtWing Software, Croydon, UK
> : ThoughtWing@dial.pipex.com
> --
> -Tucker Taft   stt@inmet.com   http://www.inmet.com/~stt/
> Intermetrics, Inc.  Burlington, MA  USA