[boost] Re: boost Windowing Toolkit

From: Joseph Davis (Joseph.Davis_at_[hidden])
Date: 1999-12-13 16:41:43

I have been lurking here a few months trying to come up to speed with what you
folks are doing and why.  I have hesitated making a contribution until now,
chiefly because my template design skills are so primitive.  But I do have some
strong feelings about GUI toolkits however.

I share the opinion of those who think this would be an ill advised move for
Boost.  STL and Boost seem to me to be addressing a vital need: robust
algorithms for getting things done.  My company has also adopted Qt for GUI
work, and we are carefully trying to segregate the non-GUI stuff from the GUI.
The non-GUI stuff is being written in 100% pure portable ANSI C++.  (At least
that is our intention.)

It is far too tempting to reinvent the GUI framework wheel.  We can all do it
better right?  Tens of 1000s of hours later you will have little to show for
your effort.

Why not concentrate on the meat and potatoes tools that enable the computer to
actually accomplish real work?

Template classes that assist in implementing good GofF design patterns like
Composite, Bridge, Builder, and Abstract Factory could help us all in isolating
our designs from overly intrusive GUI packages.  That would be as close to the
GUI as I would recommend.

Of course, this is only my opinion.
--Joe