Re: [gnome-love] Things that make you go "What in the world is That?!?"

[Chris Kelso <ckelso heliosphere org>]

Elijah Newren wrote:

> I'm going to have to disagree with you  on gobject being an example of a
> basic thing.  It's purpose is to make it easy to create binding to gtk+
> in other languages.  Unless you are writing language bindings yourself
> or doing something else advanced in gtk+, I think beginners can mostly
> ignore gobject (signal connection being the major example that they
> can't ignore).
>  
   Your probably right for basic hacking.  Since it would leave an 
assumption that I am not going to be hacking any of the libs or starting 
my own project, I think it can be ignored at first... But it would be 
something I would put in "So your really commited to gnome: a guide."

> Is that needed?  As far as I remember, nothing in the gtkmm tutorial
> mentions gobject.  (gtkmm is the set of c++ language bindings for gtk,
> more info can be found at www.gtkmm.org)  Perhaps you could describe in
> more detail what you're trying to do and someone else can help you out. 
> :-)    (I would try to help, but I definitely don't know any details
> about gobject)
>  
Absolutely it's a must.  I understand oop to the point I can use it in 
any oop langauge.  I just don't understand the conventions in glib that 
provided that same functionality in C.  I think the fact that it is so 
widely available on so many platforms AND in C is breathtaking.  But as 
agreed above, I grant you it's not for the beginner.

> If you're thinking in terms of c++, then
> http://www.gtkmm.org/docs/gtkmm-2.4/docs/tutorial/html/ch08s07.html also
> provides an example that may be of use to you.  Of course, Paolo also
> provided another in his email already, aimed at C.
>
>  
Sorry, didn't mean to hint at using glib with another language, as the 
two projects I itch most to want to dedicate a hobby to include the 
linux kernel and gnome.  Them both being in C and using OOP paradigms 
just is an itch I'll eventually scratch.

In no way meant as disrespect, Paolo's guide doesn't tie into "What I 
know" from other languages with "How it's done here".   Although very 
thorough, it is not aimed at my level of glib knowledge (not necessarily 
a bad thing.

> I couldn't agree more.  If you have any suggestions on how to fix this,
> feel free to send them to me.  My tutorial is one attempt to help fix
> this, but I'm sure there's more things we need to do as well.
>
>  

Honestly, Gnome-Love is great.  I think the gnome project has a very 
open attitude with new developers as your efforts bear witness to.

Regards,
Chris

P.S. One great way to harvest the "learning curve" issue may be to have 
a simple bugzilla for collecting "I'm stuck by this code", as it's hard 
for me to think of anything besides the issues I have at the moment.