Re: [boost] Java style GUI in C++

From: Paul Grenyer (paul_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-08-23 11:22:31

Hi

Please excuse me coming into this discussion halfway. I wasn't on this list
until last week when someone told me this discussion was happening and I
joined as this is something I am very interested in.

> It seems that what you're at is a full-blown standalone C++ GUI library.
> Maybe, it's good goal, but there a lot of toolkits already. I think it's
not
> likely that just a new library will find a lot of users. If somebody has
Qt
> or GTK application, he won't rewrite it just because your library is
cleaner
> or better in some other way.

My experience, mostly from reading the documentation, is that there are no
GOOD cross-platform C++ GUI libraries out there.

The likes of WxWindows and GTKMM (the C++ GTK for those who haven't come
across if before) suffer, IMO from lack of modern C++ techniques (not even
namespaces in WxWindows' case), and unnecessary reinvention of the wheel for
things like strings, and neither are exception safe. Which, in my mind,
doesn't really make them C++ libraries.

Also, they try and do more than be a GUI library, for example by supporting
threading and database access.

I can't comment on Qt's exception safety, but I'm put off that because it's
no longer free to Windows users. I believe it also does some wheel
reinvention and database and threading stuff. I didn't like the extra
compile stage for the messaging mechanism either.

Anyway, so what's my point? My point is that I believe the C++ community is
crying out for a good real C++ solution. I for one would very much like to
see a C++ GUI library as part of boost.

GUI use often does tie people into a particular library. Not many people
seem to separate their backend logic from the GUI code, so it would be
difficult for a lot of people to _change_. However, what about people like
me who often start new projects or who do separate (I believe) correctly.

Rant over. Comments?

Regards
Paul

Paul Grenyer
email: paul_at_[hidden]
web: http://www.paulgrenyer.co.uk

There's someone in my head, but it's not me.