Re: A community Windows binding

["Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" <ve3wwg@cogeco.ca>]

Jeffrey Carter wrote:

> On 2004-10-05 19:28:03 -0400, Stephen Leake <stephen_leake@acm.org> said:
>> In order to get started, I'd like to hear from everyone who is willing
>> to be a developer.
> 
> I have no experience with Gwindows, some with Claw, and a fair amount 
> with JEWL and GtkAda. I have no real preference for a basis for a GMGPL 
> windows binding, although my preferences are for platform portability 
> and not using callbacks. If I may be of assistance, I am willing to help.

JEWL when I looked at it last (>= yr) was nice and simple. As a
GUI training vehicle, I don't think you can beat it (unless you
insist on training on callbacks). I don't believe that JEWL's
design goals were such that it ever should be a General Purpose
interface for GUI. Problems such as the inability to redirect a
focus to a specific widget limits its wider use.

There was a thread on the GUIs & callbacks sometime ago, where I
believe MDC was quite vocal. Callbacks are a pain, but there aren't
too many practical alternatives. The big main loop that JEWL uses, is
one such alternative, but I am not convinced this scales well to
larger projects.

I think probably the only thing that can be agreed upon is that
callbacks are normal for GUIs now, GWindows uses them (like many
others), and it should not be a limiting factor in its choice.

As for portability, I would be greatly surprised if GWindows ever
goes beyond Windows support, so in my mind, asking for more than
that is barking up the wrong tree (this is why GtkAda remains
important for those that insist on portability). I wish it were
otherwise, but I don't think it is practicle to expect otherwise
for GWindows. I'd be willing to be wrong on that, but if I were
asked to make a bet..
-- 
Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
http://home.cogeco.ca/~ve3wwg