Beyond planmaker?

Talk about miscellaneous stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else. Off-topic discussions encouraged.
hgilbert
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what do you use to code your applications?

Post by hgilbert »

Is it just pure XLib?
or do you use some third-party widgets?

I've been wanting to learn to program for Linux for quite some time.
But its such a hard area to penetrate into.
Of course coming from the Window world I've been spoiled with easy IDE and drag-and-drop activeX controls.

before i plunge into a linux language or set of libraries to use.
I want to make sure i choose the best technology.

I like the idea of a light-weight and non-dependant enviroment such as yours -
which unlike motif - the end result looks very beautiful.
martin-k
SoftMaker Team
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Post by martin-k »

Yes, TextMaker and PlanMaker use pure Xlib calls. If you don't have a very good reason (cross-platform portability), DON'T go that route. It's immensely more work than using Qt or GTK or any other pre-made toolkit.

Have a look at KDevelop, read quite a few people are raving about it.
Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH
hgilbert
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Post by hgilbert »

I guess I am a masochist when it comes to programming
I've tried reading J.Robert Brown's X Window Programming from Scratch
but because I've been busy with other things never got round trying the concepts out.
I'll try today.

Also today I was playing with QNX Momentics Development Suite
For a second I thought that is what you used!
the widgets are so very similar - and the suite provide
very light cross-platform output specially for PDAs.
I mean I would have used that - if I had to go PDA and cross-platform.

Xlib isn't portable
QT is more portable .. and it would be easier to develop Xlib in Linux than in Windows
which begs the question - why would Datamaker appear first in Windows
which uses win32 API (if not then MFC or ATL)

hmm there is some secret here I am not supposed to know :)
martin-k
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Post by martin-k »

No secrets... we develop code with our own toolkit, and this toolkit calls low-level functions in the respective operating system. We just need very basic function calls (paint a pixel here, a rect there, wait on mouse input etc.). But if you develop apps from scratch, you don't want that ultra-low level of system interfacing but something that gives you apps quickly.

Qt or GTK or wxWindows or FLTK all fit this bill much better than Xlib.
Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH
hgilbert
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 8:46 pm
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Post by hgilbert »

I want your toolkit to play with :(

But yeah I know what you mean, reading programming X from scratch
most pages had code like:

static unsigned char arrow_bits[] = {
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x04, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x04, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, ... for another 12 lines or so

nightmare ! lol
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