Re: Kparts and Bonobo..

[Weiqi Gao <weiqigao networkusa net>]

On Fri, 2001-09-14 at 02:56, Erik Bågfors wrote:
> 
> At dot.kde.org you can find a link to a document about KDE components.
> In that document they explain why Kparts is good and why corba and
> of course bonobo if bad for a desktop.  

Anybody who tells you CORBA is bad is bound to spend three years to
reinvent CORBA.  They'd be lucky if what they come up with is anywhere
near the versatility of CORBA.

> So.  I would like to know alittle more about the differences between
> the component-systems.

KPart is not a component system.  So you cannot compare it with Bonobo.

> I'm sure that both systems are great technology and I'm not trying to
> start a flame-war.

You do realize that you are starting a flame war, don't you?  Why do
people lie to themselves?

> I wanted to ask this question before this article but never got around
> to do it.
> 
> I know next to nothing about KParts and a little more about bonobo but
> not a whole lot there either.

The best way to learn Bonobo is to learn two things: COM and CORBA. 

Excellent books on the subject of CORBA abound.  My recommendation would
be Michi Henning and Steve Vinoski's "Advanced CORBA PRogramming with
C++" and Gerald Brose, et al. "Java Programming with CORBA".  Both books
explain what CORBA is very well.  Although they emphasize on the C++
binding and the Java binding respectively, both books contain many
chapters on the overall architecture of CORBA as well as the IDL and the
base objects that are applicable to the C binding that is offered by
ORBit, the ORB GNOME uses.  To pick up the C binding, go directly to OMG
(http://www.omg.org) and grab the C binding spec.

The book to read on COM is Don Box's "Essential COM".  Again, not
everything is applicable to Bonobo.  But the spirit is there.

> It seams like the documentation for
> KParts is a little bit better than the documentation for bonobo.

Some of the Bonobo documentations and tutorials are a bit dated.  But
since Bonobo uses two well established technologies, you can pick it up
quickly even with these documentations.

KParts, on the other hand, was invented haphazadly to make one thing
happen.  Yes, you can learn it quickly through one tutorial.  But pretty
soon you will realize that that isn't all.  You have to learn something
else that they invented to solve another problem.  And then another
thing, and then another thing.  While existing technologies would have
solved all of their problems.

> I'd love to see a "convert your program to a component"-tutorial for
> bonobo like there is a short one for Kparts.

There is a Bonobo controls tutorial available from the GNOME CVS.

> Anyway.  Like I said, I'm not trying to start a flame-war, I'm just
> curious :)

Learn CORBA.  Learn COM.  Forget KParts (It jsut doesn't apply
elsewhere, and I doubt you can find a job doing KParts).

And you started the flame war!

-- 
Weiqi Gao
weiqigao networkusa net