On Sun, 2 Nov 2003, Shachar Shemesh wrote:
> Hi Aviad,
>
> I've decided that a lot of voices make for a more interesting
> conversation. I'm therefor forwarding your email to a mailing list I
> read (and occasionally even write to). I'm sure the good people here
> will have plenty to say. You may want to clarify what "sending
> parameters" mean, though. Is that "a gui application that invokes a cli
> application with arguments"?
>
> Ok, guys. I decided that the distro war from a few days ago was not
> interesting enough. Let's have a programming language war, while wer'e
> at it.
>
> A good begginer's GUI tool for a univ. project. Which would be best?
>
> Shachar
>
> aviad wrote:
>
> > i wonder if you could help me choose between
> > several languages to develop gui based application
> > i gotlost between :
> > Python,perl,tcl/tk,qt,gtk+
OK, here's the thing. If you have a CLI client or an encapsulate shared
library that you need to write a GUI to, and/or you have a lot of GUI to
write, then using a high-level language is probably a must, or else you'll
go completely insane with a lot of C/C++ stuff.
Now, for the choice of language:
Perl - my favourite language (;-)). There's more than one way to do it.
Very flexible. A lot of different ways to accomplish the same thing. Some
people love it. Some people hate it. You can't know until you've tried.
Python - a language I dislike quite a bit. One way to do it. Powerful and
object oriented. Lacks some essential Perl features and syntax elements,
because "no one needs them" (to quote Moshe Zadka). I was told that it is
more suitable for GUIs than Perl is.
Ruby - a language that aims to combine the best elements of Perl, Python
and Smalltalk. There is more than one way to do it. Sort of like Perl
structured arond an OOP. Never programmed anything serious in it.
Tcl - an old language with some inherent design problems, that seems to be
dying, but still have some hard-core advocates.
Java - a language that is not as high level as Perl/Python/Ruby/Tcl and
yet higher level than C. Proprietary and verbose. I don't like it much,
but has some strong advocates.
You'll hear a lot of FUD against Perl from Pythoneers, so you have been
warned. You'll also hear a lot of FUD against Perl and everything else
from Java bigots. I'll probably use either Perl, Python or Ruby if I were
you. Either language will be fine.
Now for the Toolkits:
Tk - the traditional toolkit for interpreted languages, that started with
Tcl (Tcl/Tk). Very quick to write code in, but lacks the fine grained
control of more advanced (C/C++-originated toolkits). Have a more or less
native look and feel, which does not look exactly right.
Gtk+ - available for all the languages above. I did about one or two
things with it (in Perl), so I can only say that from my naive impression
it was quite tedious to work in. Its license is LGPL so it's free of any
restrictions.
Qt - available for Python and Perl (and C++). Very cute and useful.
The library is very monolithic and contains routines for everything under
the sun (with possible memory or speed overhead). License is GPL/QPL on
UNIX and proprietary/binary only on Windows, so may impose some problems.
wxWindows - Has bindings for Perl, Python and Ruby. (and its own Basic
language - ;-)). Uses native widgets on Windows and UNIX so has a native
look and feel. Small runtime. I was told that it is better than the Win32
API, but not as powerful as Gtk+.
Regards,
Shlomi Fish
> > i need a language that will help me to develop
> > a small gui that will communicate with a non gui linux
> > program (send parameters via gui)
> >
> > hope to hear from you
> >
> > aviad
>
>
>
> --
> Shachar Shemesh
> Open Source integration consultant
> Home page & resume - http://www.shemesh.biz/
>
>
>
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Home Page: http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/
Writing a BitKeeper replacement is probably easier at this point than getting
its license changed.
Matt Mackall on OFTC.net #offtopic.
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