Re: [gnome-love] A RAD for GNOME?

[Jonathan Bartlett <johnnyb eskimo com>]

The best way I think to do RAD is as an extension of GLADE using PyGnome.
Basically, if you could get GLADE to interface w/ an editor to do the
following you would be most of the way there:

  * Create a class for each top-level window that would loade it's glade
data on instantiation

  * Create method stubs within the class for each callback created.

I have a base class that I created just for this purpose in PyGNOME, but
haven't had the opportunity to get it integrated like I want to.  See it
at:

http://www.async.com.br/faq/pygtk/index.py?req=show&file=faq03.001.htp

and a more extended version with more explanation here:

http://www.daa.com.au/pipermail/pygtk/2002-January/002374.html

Jon

On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 news optimistic co uk wrote:

> Dear Everyone,
>
> Over the past few weeks, I have been musing over a Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment for 
> GNOME. Here are my ideas in (I hope) fairly coherent form. I would be most appreciative of anyone prepared 
> to read and think about this admittedly quite lengthy proposition, and I hope you will agree that it is 
> worthwhile.
>
> I am a Linux convert from the communities of both MacOS and Windows, and I have programmed in REALBasic and 
> Microsoft Visual Basic. I have also had a good go at GNOME programming, and intend to continue.
>
> One of the main reasons why I think this idea is important is because REALBasic, VisualBasic and other such 
> products have  had a profound impact upon their respective platforms. They have brought life to the 
> ambitions of novice programmers who previously would have had to learn difficult languages and rediculous 
> APIs in order to write programs on their native platform. The Internet is teeming with programs written in 
> RAD environments, from RB to VB to Delphi to QuickBasic (which has unfortunately just about breathed its 
> last).
>
> In short, it would be fair to say that these tools have attracted many programmers and have created many 
> useful programs (http://www.realbasic.com has a very extensive list of good programs written in REALBasic, 
> and awards prizes for the very best programs of all).
>
> When learning to program in GNOME, I found that one of the chief impediments was that there seemed to be 
> many ways to approach the subject, none of them very simple. After reading some of Havoc Pennington's book 
> on GNOME programming and a handful of Glade tutorials, I managed to get started. It took me about a day and 
> a half to do in GNOME what a novice VB programmer could probably do in a few hours - to write a simple 
> program a little more sophisticated than good old 'hello world'. It was relatively simple for me, of 
> course. I had learned C previously, and I have a reasonable amount of experience with a fair number of 
> programming environments/APIs/languages. For a programming novice, this would be a very hard and no doubt 
> extremely time-consuming task.
>
> How, then, should less experienced users than myself be drawn to writing great GNOME programs? My first 
> thought is a RAD environment. When I was new to programming, and tried VB, it took about an hour at most to 
> get some kind of foothold - it was really simple.
>
> So far I have found two RAD environments for Linux (which I must confess I haven't tried yet), Borland 
> Kylix and GAMBAS, by Benoit Minisini. The biggest problem with both of these is that neither of them give 
> that distinctive GNOME look. Kylix looks like something out of KDE/Qt (which I think it is), and  GAMBAS 
> looks far too like Windows (ugh!). This is why I think that GNOME should have its own RAD environment, for 
> novice and advanced programmers alike to quickly create functional programs. I am not suggesting for a 
> moment that the GNOME/GTK project should abolish C as its primary language. It is still a good way to 
> create good programs for GNOME, and no doubt beats any RAD solution hands-down for flexibility and speed of 
> execution.
>
> In my opinion, a RAD environment for GNOME should be based on Glade, or something very similar. Glade is a 
> wonderful tool, great for anyone wanting to create their user interface quickly. It has many similarities 
> with the interface design tools of RB and VB, and once you get your head around GTK's system of organizing 
> how widgets fit together, it is pretty simple. Integrate that with a really good integrated development 
> environment (IDE), and an easier language than C, and my idea is just about realized.
>
> This project would probably not be as hard as it might look at first sight, since the free software 
> community already has Glade, already has IDEs, and already has easier languages than C. And as you all 
> know, since it is free software, it is available for a project such as this to integrate into its own 
> solution.
>
> It's a project which is just waiting to be started, and has enourmous potential to both attract novice 
> developers to the GNOME project to develop even more great applications and help anyone to create their own 
> software to meet their individual needs.
>
> If anyone is remotely interested, I would love to hear from them, and I would very much appreciate help 
> from anyone who shares my vision, since as a hobbyist I have no experience of undertaking a major project 
> such as this.
>
> Just think of the possibilities!
>
> --
> Thomas Kirby
>
>
> --
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