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From: Mathew Robertson (mathew.robertson_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-08-25 17:55:00


> > Unless I missed completely missed something about OSX, you would preferably
> > code it in Objective-C (which is a fantastic language for creating GUI's).
> > In which case, GUI's for most other platforms are coded in C, C++, Delphi,
> > VB, etc. wouldn't have a place on OSX.
>
> Apple has two first-class APIs to the OS. One is C, one is Objective-C. The C
> APIs can (obviously) be directly called from C++.
>
> > Is the prefered language to program GUI's on OSX, C++?
>
> No. C or Objective-C. The C APIs and the Objective-C APIs are approximately
> equipotent.

Most moder GUI development for Unicies, uses C++; for Win32 it is either C, C++, VB, or Delphi.

So the question then... would a Boost GUI library (which is C++) be unlikely to be used on OSX?

> > > The quality of the user interface of all of those applications is something
> > > that I, as a professional Mac developer, would be ashamed to ship. (They
> > > are not all equally bad, though.)
> >
> > you highlighted my point exactly - they are bad, compared to native
> > applications, because it is _really hard_ to make a cross-platform GUI
> > library. They are good, particularily considering this fact.
>
> Really hard, yes. Really important, too, if you want to ship a product that
> doesn't suck.
>
> > > I firmly believe that the problem of producing a cross-platform framework
> > > that
> > > is able to accommodate the user experience demands of several platforms is
> > > difficult and tractable.
> >
> > tractable => "Easily managed or controlled; governable" (dictionary.com)
> >
> > is the problem "difficult" or "easy"? (my guess that you have miss-type the
> > last bit of the sentence - although I'm not sure which way it was meant...)
>
> Ah, it would appear that I was not using "tractable" properly. Thanks for the
> correction. What I meant it "possible to solve given a sufficiently capable and
> motivated group of engineers". I believe the problem is hard, but not without a
> solution. I also think that there's a partial solution that is considerably
> simpler, and that's what people seem to be shipping today.

I agree completely - and is why this "Java style GUI..." is a good discussion topic.

Mathew


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