Re: Proposing/Recomending Ada Usage At Work

[Shark8 <onewingedshark@gmail.com>]

On Monday, October 30, 2017 at 8:46:58 AM UTC-6, tclwa...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Monday, October 30, 2017 at 3:43:31 AM UTC-4, Brian Drummond wrote:
> > On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 18:36:04 -0700, Shark8 wrote:
> > 
> > > At work there's a system (simulator + scenario-editor) being used in
> > > studies which is in desperate need of an upgrade --
> > > particularly/specifically in terms of the editor's usability, as the
> > > time to create a scenario is rapidly ballooning to fill up all the time
> > > allocated to a study.
> > > 
> > > This issue has spurred a drive for suggestions and solutions, and while
> > > much of the issue is indeed more of a UI issue, there are implementation
> > > considerations which impact the amount of time needed to make a
> > > scenario.
> > 
> > I suspect the GUI aspect will be critical : you need a GUI toolkit that 
> > simply works and doesn't get in the way. This will have a highly visible 
> > impact on the project - good or bad - as its the easiest to see and 
> > criticize.

You are correct that GUI is critical, though only insofar as building the scenarios goes. (They're not interested in "whiz-bang" graphics; heck one of the basic entities look kinda like lolipops.) -- https://image.slidesharecdn.com/pythonincombatmodel-100805000040-phpapp01/95/how-and-why-python-is-used-in-the-model-of-realworld-battlefield-scenarios-5-728.jpg?cb=1281400284

> > 
> > I'd be budgeting a small amount of time to try Gnoga (and keep the 
> > interface browser based) - others like gtkada change substantially 
> > between revisions, requiring maintenance (and a fairly substantial 
> > investment in learning how to use it), or add platform dependencies like 
> > requiring Windows. 

This is definitely putting the horse before the cart; while Gonga could certainly be an excellent solution GUI-wise the biggest problem would be selling the rewrite -- something that actually is needed -- in terms of the current problems.

> > 
> > Not saying Gnoga is the answer but GUI is a recurring problem and I'm 
> > interested to hear how you tackle this aspect.

Right now I'm looking at things from the "advantages Ada provides" angle, while I certainly will have sections for alternatives (such as creating a prepopulated force-structure), I need to make the Ada proposal *SHINE*.

> Is Gnoga actively maintained? do they have a github page?

AFAIK, it is.