Re[2]: [9fans] Limbo Tk FAQ?

[Matt H <matt@proweb.co.uk>]

Hello rog,

>> > graphics programming still
>> > reminds me of assembler programming: way too much attention
>> > to way too much irrelevant detail.
>>
>> I'm pleased to discover I am not alone in this, although I couldn't
>> have phrased it as succintly or as accurately as you did.  And I
>> enjoy assembly programming, but I find graphics programming far
>> too tedious.

rvc> i think that's because you've got multi-dimensional inputs, often with
rvc> associated state, which are much harder to deal with than the
rvc> unidimensional, stateless input stream of a command-line program, for
rvc> example.

rvc> at least with limbo/tk, the language is decently multi-threaded, so
rvc> it's often possible to carve a program into logically independent
rvc> threads, each of which is quite simple, rather than the age old "one
rvc> big state machine" paradigm which is the only way of doing things in
rvc> many GUI programming interfaces. despite its superficial simplicity,
rvc> i'll bet that Visual Basic falls into that category too.

rvc> where GUI programming is inevitably tedious is when you're dealing with
rvc> input forms (buttons, entry widgets, sliders, tickboxes, etc, etc), as
rvc> there are so many possible states to think about and deal with in the
rvc> program. i think that this is going to be the case regardless of
rvc> language. the key is probably to minimise (eliminate?) instances of
rvc> this kind of interface.

rvc> i've found limbo/tk to be a very productive environment, compared to
rvc> others i've used (principally the NeXTStep interface (now MacOS X),
rvc> which i believe is well regarded).  the first-class strings in limbo
rvc> sit very well with the string-based nature of tk. strings nicely

rvc> i'm sorry, i'm off topic.
well, while you're there

any idea when signed applets for IE limbo will grace our lives?



-- 
 Matt                          mailto:matt@proweb.co.uk

I'm floating on a lilo in the Sea of Alright