[GRASS-user] Re: grass-user Digest, Vol 44, Issue 13

[Michael Barton]

On Dec 3, 2009, at 8:06 AM, grass-user-request at lists.osgeo.org wrote:

> Date: Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:06:07 +0100
> From: Vincent Bain <bain at toraval.fr>
> Subject: Re: [GRASS-user] grass70 and display monitor
> To: Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>
> Cc: GRASS user list <grass-user at lists.osgeo.org>
> Message-ID: <1259852767.6278.6.camel at vincent-desktop>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> Thanks for your reply,
>
> May I be considered bothersome, but was it really impossible to  
> achieve
> (like in grass65) the development of a wxGUI (which I really enjoy  
> too)
> while keeping the complete set of "historical" command line
> environment ?
>

1) xmons don't work at all under windows
2) you can work completely via the command line and create all the  
scripts you want. In fact, scripting works better under GRASS 7 than  
prior versions because of a more consistent command interface
3) if you want interactive, we've spent hundreds of hours and 10's K  
of code developing an up-to-date interactive environment instead of  
one based on 1980's technology

Not sure why we should try to recreate a retro 1980's kind of limited  
interaction too. All coding takes time and effort to develop and  
maintain. Currently there are only 2 people willing to do GUI coding,  
even though it is a code base many orders of magnitude greater than  
any module.

I disagree about the majority of GRASS users wanting only to use it  
only in customized script-based  or command based environments. I've  
had some version of the following conversation too many times to  
count. [Researcher/student/professional after one of my talks or  
demonstrations] "Hey that was pretty cool. You know, I tried GRASS  
some years ago, but ummm... I gave up because I couldn't really figure  
out how to get it to do things." [Me] "Have you looked at it recently?  
Here, check it out" [Them] "Wow. That looks a lot different from what  
I saw. I think that would work for my [fill in the blank] project. How  
do I get it?"

Part of the reason there are a larger number of command-line/scripting  
users with GRASS is that 1) it used to run only on Linux or Unix and  
people using that OS (especially in the past) were self-selected  
command-line, compiling, coding users, and 2) anyone who didn't want  
to run GRASS that way tried it and gave up. If we want to keep the  
user base confined to that audience, then we need to get rid of the  
GUI altogether and focus on enhancing commands. If we want to have a  
large and diverse user base that can make use of GRASS for a wide  
variety of geospatial tasks and for teaching, then we need a highly  
interactive, up-to-date GUI as well as maintaining command-line  
scripting use. I think that there is a need for a high-end geospatial  
data management, analysis, and visualization program like GRASS.  
However, most of these potential users will not be people like me (and  
much of the old user base) who use commands, write code, and customize  
GRASS into scripts.

Cheers
Michael