Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 13:20:06 -0600 (CST) From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: j mckitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: software development tools - microsoft and unix Message-ID: <14969.46822.129062.146954@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <20010201183650.C76922@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> References: <20010201183650.C76922@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
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j mckitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> types: > It seems if there is one thing Microsoft does well, it is providing powerful > development tools. If you ignore the fact that they use proprietary > language extensions, what is the problem with these tools? They only run on Windows, which to unfriendly an environment for me to work in regularly. Note that this is my evaluation of working in Windows, *not* a gratuitous slam at Windows. Clearly, others disagree with me. > What have I missed? Is there any real flaw in the tools that explains why > similar tools have not appeared as open source in the unix world, or am I > just unaware of them? I think it's a combination of things. I've been told that the Windows APIs are nearly impossible to deal with "by hand", whereas I've found the Unix ones are quite reasonable. Personally, I'm not convinced these GUI builders actually save any time over something as simple as canned templates and high-level libraries - at least when dealing with Unix GUI systems. Of course, that you have to deal with Unix GUI systemS, not just one GUI, is probably relevant. > Are there any unix tools that are evolving as quickly, that allow easy > creation of COM objects, GUIs, etc.? I haven't been following them, but there were commercial products to do GUI kinds of thing available in the early '90s. Personally, I went with the open source tools that provide easy GUI building interfaces, but not GUIs to build things. DECWRL's Draw! comes to mind. There was also a Motif specific tool of some kind. As for COM objects, I've found that doing CORBA by hand is pretty painless. Especially when writing in a high-level OO to start with, and not C or C++. > I am sure someone will argue that they produce bloated code, but it appears > that really is not an issue anymore. It seems almost every developer uses > these standard tools, and the code size has become accepted. While that's true on Windows, my experience is that Unix users have higher expectations; that's why they are Unix users. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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