[GRASS-dev] GUI toolkits

[twiens]

One of the questions that Michael had raised in the earlier
threads concerning toolkits and languages to replace the
tcl/tk interface was the accessibility of development tools
on all platforms. Since there has been some interest in
using Python, I began doing a very cursory examination of
the different toolkits and their associated development
environments. I've used Python for scripting statistical
analyses and database work, but never for GUI work, so it is
something new to me. I've been using Eric3 for my Python
editor but it isn't available on all platforms. When looking
at wxPython I came across PythonCard (and had noticed the
LWN announcement of the new release this week) so I looked
at it briefly and it seems pretty decent. As it was a
toolkit that tries to reduce the complexity of GUI
development and make it more Python like, it seems like a
good idea and something we might want to consider. It is
pure Python so the development tools are available on all
platforms and uses wxPython. From what I can tell, if there
is need for more control than is offered with PythonCard,
wxPython can be coded directly within this environment. In
an earlier life as a Clipper programmer, I used a tool
called Zachary, which automated huge portions of the
application development process but still allowed for the
hand coding of more advanced modules. I found this extremely
handy, and was able to be very productive with those tools.
I realize that a GRASS GUI is an entirely different kind of
animal than end user desktop database apps, but still the
idea of using a single tool has advantages.

I look foward to hearing the opinions of others on the list
about this idea and their experiences with PythonCard (if
any).

Thanks

T
--
Trevor Wiens