Re: Beginners guide

[Paul Davis <paul linuxaudiosystems com>]

On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 2:27 PM, Timothy Ward <gtwa001 gmail com> wrote:

Hi Emmanuele,

I do agree with you but, From a beginners concept,The concept of Gtk-application and the handling of applications arguments is confusing coming from someone who is still learning from say - standard "C" as they are handled the same way in just about any example on a google search,  

When you combine this with the concept of main loop and instances that need to be created, controlled and destroyed then the complexity may be simple for an experienced programmer, but not to a beginner. 

​GtkApplication is precisely where beginners should start. The fact that introductory books on C programming don't mention event loops, is not a justification for hiding the fact that GUI applications (fully translated: applications that accept unbounded and unpredictable user input while running) are conceptually and fundamentally different from data-driven programming.

The sooner "beginners" are exposed to this concept, the better. And let's be honest: it's no more complex than at least a half-dozen other conpcets that the developer of a contemporary GUI application will need to face along the way. Quite possibly one of the simplest, in fact.

The same thing applies to the GAction/GtkAction concept. Most GTK+ applications would be very much better designed internally and at the UI/UX level if their developers started from this concept, but it is generally deemed "too advanced". In reality, it provides the appropriate simplifications and scaffolding to build applications that work in the way that users expect in 2018 and beyond.​

​