Re: [gtk-list] Re: I want to understand

[Jonathan Mark Brooks <jmbrooks jmbrooks net>]

On Wed, 14 Apr 1999 Robert_Gasch/PeopleSoft@peoplesoft.com wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> this is sort of a FAQ ... let me summarize what I remember from
> previous discussions on this topic:
> 
> 1) More people know C than C++. This means more potential programmers.

I'm not certain is this is true anymore.  At one time, yes.  But if
numerosity were an issue, I would suggest that GTK+ should have been
written in Pascal or COBOL. :)

> 2) C is the de-facto standard for UNIX programming. (related to #1)

Quite true.

> 3) C compiles much faster (and compilation uses less memory) than C++

I believe that this is true also, although it may not be as much of an
issue for any system capable of running GTK+/Xwin based apps in the 
first place.

> 4) Using C++ as the base would make other language bindings more difficult
> to write (??)

Disagree.  Actually, the object-oriented features of C++ would make it
much easier to design bindings for other languages.  You can always limit
wrappers/container classes, but adding features not supported by the
language is another matter...

> 5) Just about any system has a decent C compiler ... the story is not quite
> so simple for C++ where different compilers may implement a different
> subset of the language. This will probably not be an issue anymore in
> a few years, but for now this is something to keep in mind ...

Still true, although the recent standardization process has everyone
scrambling to adhere to the standard.  Interesting that EGCS, an OSS free
compiler system, has HP/SGI std STL library while MS VC++ apparently still
does not. :)

Allow me to add 6)--politics.

Yes, politics.  I have suspected for some time that the underlying basis
for basing GTK+ on C was that it was more likely that you would be able to
get OSS folks to support it if it was in C.  I.e. existing Linux
developers would support it.  It is not, in my opinion, a migration
library, i.e., something likely to draw developers from the Win32 world to
Linux.  That would more likely be QTfree's role.  Also, I see this as
directly tying into the Gnome v. KDE thingie, which is quite a passionate
issue for some folks (I have and use both, because I like to experiment.)

I'm just glad that we have an alternative to Motif.  Oh yeah,
7) WE NEED A GUI/RAD LIBRARY THAT WE DON'T HAVE TO LICENSE AT $150
A POP!

> 
> Try Gtk--, I use it and like it very much ...
> 

Its a good project.


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