From: boris Date: 2002-01-23T05:16:54+09:00 Subject: Re: Abstracted GUI APIs (was: RANT: Ruby GUI API) On Wed, Jan 23, 2002 at 02:51:31AM +0900, Horacio L?pez muttered... : [snip interesting comments] : > : > I'd like to start a mailing list specifically for discussing this topic, : or : > a separate newsgroup. I'd be happy to host that, but I'd like to know how : > many people would be interested in contributing to the discussion. : > Ideally, I'd like to see the authors of the existing GUI toolkits for Ruby : > be involved, because they'll know more about the issues and will be able : to : > point out things that need to exist for such an API to function. : > --- SER : : I am not sure I am following you. : Is the idea to create a discussion space towards tighter integration : of existing toolkits ? : : Old Netscape 4.x was based on the Athena toolkit, : (if I remember well) and it was statically linked at least in the : versions I have used in the past. Some other toolkits like FLTK : seem to be statically linked by default. : It's a huge effort to create the integration layer, amend the : legacy applications and recompile all of them. : Of course not all toolkits, and not all applications are like that, but: : : Wouldn't be better switching to newer, supported applications, : joining active groups that work hard towards integration, like : the KDE group you mentioned ? : : Are you thinking of integration of future applications, or : bringing tight integration to legacy applications ? Legacy applications are already there and for all intents and purposes dead, and burried, It's future applications :) : Are you thinking of a common GUI API for Ruby, sort : of Java's Swing ? This problem isn't just a ruby one, it's a problem that all scripting languages face - if done correctly you could kill several birds with one stone, as to how to actually go about doing this I'd have to have a carefull think, but if such an effort is made it would be a shame to tie it just to Ruby. : Or all of these things together ? : : I am interested on all these ideas, and discussing them, : it's just I don't see clear goals. Same here, Regards, Chris -- Chris Ross (boris) [ chris@darkrock.co.uk, http://www.darkrock.co.uk ] [ (chris|boris)@ferite.org, http://www.ferite.org ] "Suicide stunts your growth."