GTK++ proposal

[karlmail usa net]

  I would like to commend all the authors of the GIMP 
  and GTK+ for creating an excellent widget set for 
  the X Window System. Great work guys! 
  The free software community benefits greatly from 
  your efforts. :-) 

  Below are some thoughts that you may want to consider. 

  After the original GTK toolkit evolved to the GTK+ 
  toolkit, which added object oriented principles to 
  the C language, I feel that now is the right time to 
  go one step further - GTK++ - a C++ version of GTK+. 

  Before I say more, I realise that people are working 
  at creating bindings for C++, and other bindings exist 
  for many other languages as well, however, I believe 
  that many of the bindings created break the original 
  aims of GTK+ - to be a fast, small and efficient 
  toolkit for programming the X Window System. 
  Many bindings created thus far are either extremely 
  criptic, add unrequired code bulk, or are lacking in 
  features found in GTK+. 

  A C++ version would greatly simplify the learning curve 
  of the toolkit, especially in creating new widgets for 
  the library. Theme support for example could be added 
  simply by deriving new classes for each widget 
  containing a modified virtual draw function. 

  I realise that it would put back GTK+ development a 
  while, but the ease at which it would be to program 
  using an object-oriented toolkit in C++ rather than 
  in C would in my opinion be worth the hard work. 

  I am in no way trying to tarnish the image of GTK+. 
  I am simply trying to extend it by thinking towards 
  the future. 

  I am extremely eager for the GTK+ authors to agree 
  to this proposal. Perhaps we could have a GTK+ and 
  GTK++ toolkit evolving with similar features 
  simultaneously, so that programmers have a real 
  choice, and so development of more quality free 
  software can continue without language barriers, 
  while keeping the GIMP programmers cooking at 
  what they do so well. 

  Your thoughts, criticisms and concerns would be 
  greatly appreciated. I would also be very willing 
  to contribute to this work, but I can't do it alone! 
  I feel that many other programmers would be happy to 
  help. Perhaps the Gtk-- and VDK authors could 
  chip in too! 

  Karol - karlmail@usa.net 


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