[GRASS-dev] Re: 'g.gui wxpython' won't work in wingrass as wxgui is a shell script

[Glynn Clements]

Ivan Shmakov wrote:

>  > but for more complex programming python will be better. It's just a
>  > matter of choosing a compromise. e.g. for your g.mlist example sh is
>  > hard to beat.
> 
> 	But that's exactly my point -- Python is hardly an alternative
> 	for the 1.5-liners that you type into the Shell interactively.
> 	And depriving a GRASS user of a Shell does, in my opinion,
> 	seriously limit the usefulness of GRASS.

We aren't depriving them of a shell. We're eliminating the requirement
to install bash even for users who would normally use either the GUI
or cmd.exe.

Oh, and we're also eliminating a source of problems for GRASS
developers. On Windows, the problems with shell scripts begin with the
need to install bash, but they certainly don't end there.

> 	Thus, while MSYS' or Cygwin's Shell (and the ``usual'' tools)
> 	may be somewhat difficult to deploy on W32, it seems to me just
> 	unavoidable to have them installed in order to do anything
> 	useful with GRASS.

Not really. Simple tasks can be done with just the GUI. More complex
tasks really deserve a proper programming language. The range
inbetween, where bash is a reasonable solution, is actually quite
narrow. Even moreso when you consider that the lower end of that range
is adequately covered by cmd.exe (and most Windows users will probably
be more familiar with that than with bash).

IOW, anything which is too complex for cmd.exe should probably be done
with a real language, even if it can be done with bash.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>