[gdal-dev] Pretty Much Off Topic: Development IDEs

[Christopher Barker]

Zoltan Szecsei wrote:
> Please indulge me in this slightly off topic question.

If you'll indulge me with my proselytizing!

> I want to migrate my Linux based GIS workflows onto OpenSource projects, 
> using a mix of gdal/proj4/ossim and maybe GRASS - as the need and mood 
> grabs me.
> 
> I have just loaded Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit as my platform, and ask if anyone 
> is willing to let me know what development environments they program in.
> 
> I'm looking to write graphical (over orthos/satelite images) digitising 
> routines, ie: display/edit/capture vectors on/in image windows, catch 
> mouse, keyboard and maybe joystick events. Maybe even stereo (3D) 
> capture too.

> I am not a fan of GUI data capture,

what you described above sounds like GUI data capture to me -- so it may 
help to clarify what you need and what you're not a fan of.

> so whilst this looks much like 
> reinventing the wheel, I don't think it is, and hence I am unlikely to 
> see the benefit of  "tacking onto" projects like QGIS etc.
> 
> I'd be grateful to know what you guys use for programming. (I'll 
> probably stick with C as I have no experience with Java, Python or other 
> languages).

I don't recommend you stick with C -- familiarity is a good reason not 
to switch to another language that has a similar productivity level, but 
I'm quite sure that you will be far more productive if you use a higher 
level language, even if you have to learn it.

JAVA will get you some productivity gains, though I'd go with Python -- 
you can get a lot more done with a lot less code and fewer errors than 
you can in C -- and there are Python bindings for probably every C or 
C++ library you'll want to use.

As for your GUI stuff -- catching mouse and keyboard events, etc, etc, 
you'll need to pick a GUI tool kit:

What language do you want to write in? (though most have bindings for 
multiple languages)

What platform(s) do you want to support?

What licensing scheme works for you?

I'd look at QT, GTK and wxWidgets 9and their Python bindings, of course.

There are open-source desktop GIS systems built on all of these, so even 
if you think you've got a new kind of wheel, maybe they can provide a 
hub or spokes or something.

If you send me a note offline, I can point you to some stuff we're 
wroking on -- wxPython based, for custom interactive mapping applications.

-Chris






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