Re: [Vala] gtkaml 0.2.11 and 0.2.12 released

[Niels Mayer <nielsmayer gmail com>]

http://gtkaml.googlecode.com looks neat! Regarding the use of a markup
language vs JSON...

Better than JSON, S-expressions! Especially macros and backquoting etc
from Common-Lisp would be very useful in allowing decisions on when
expressions are expanded and/or variables evaluated (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Lisp#Variable_capture_and_shadowing
) I guess this decades-old concept got worse-is-bettered into some
aspect of QML as well.

But since everybody hates Lisp to the point where they'll invent a
language with heinous semantics (
http://constc.blogspot.com/2008/07/undeclared-undefined-null-in-javascript.html
), i guess I'll settle for JSON...

The DOM/XML model does have the advantage of a namespace approach,
which in the absence of the facilities of a Lisp-like system, would
still allow for a flexible binding mechanism between GUI structures
and code that interacts with the GUI, with proper high-level/dynamic
support as provided by using http://jqueryui.com/docs/Developer_Guide
, e.g.
http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/javascript-ajax/coding-your-first-jquery-ui-plugin/

What about having an equivalent style of API employing Vala and it's
object system instead?
Such an API would allow programmatic search, enumeration, iteration,
etc. over the "DOM" of the UI.

Did you know that javascript might have been scheme had it not been
for the expert direction of a former coworker whose former feats
included introducing the blink tag to HTML... oh well...

-- Niels.
http://nielsmayer.com