From: Logan Barnett <logustus@...>
Date: 2009-04-28T11:55:06+09:00
Subject: Re: Gui library suggestion based on my needs?


On Apr 27, 2009, at 11:58 AM, Pito Salas wrote:
> I did a good deal of work with Swing a little while back and tried all
> the IDEs for GUI design and none of them did the trick for me (the
> product that I am working on is http://www.blogbridge.com)
>
> So nothing at all against Java or Swing or Netbeans, just that I am
> trying to keep down the number of new things I have to learn :)

That's totally understandable. I'd be more concerned with distributing  
and installing a Ruby runtime along with your app (whereas Rawr just  
gives you rake tasks that bundle everything together for you). For  
example, Shoes distributes an entire Ruby runtime before it can launch  
your app.

Swing can be a beast, especially if you try to fight it. I can't speak  
for the other GUI libs (such as Wx and friends), but I'd imagine  
you're going learn a GUI library no matter how you skin things, and  
JRuby is just as much about using/writing Java as MRI (the 'default'  
Ruby) is about writing/using C.

But if that's still not ok, just make sure your distribution is taken  
care of. It certainly was a lot of work for us to get Rawr (our JRuby  
packaging and deployment tool) where it is now.

Logan Barnett
logustus@gmail.com
http://www.logustus.com