Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 22:12:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Chuck Robey <chuckr@glue.umd.edu> To: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Cc: PETER STUBBS <PETERS@staidan.qld.edu.au>, FreeBSD-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Getting started with X programming Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.960818220349.6148A-100000@baud.eng.umd.edu> In-Reply-To: <199608190120.KAA00411@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au>
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On Mon, 19 Aug 1996, Michael Smith wrote: > PETER STUBBS stands accused of saying: > > > > I wonder if anyone can recommend a good book to get me started with X > > programming? Are there any good free tool kits? xlib looks a bit too > > low level. > > Tk. "Tcl and the Tk toolkit" (ignore Tcl if you don't like it, Tk is useful > in and of itself). > > Interviews (which has gone on to become something else). > > Libforms (libxforms). Never used this, so all I know is that someone > likes it. > > All of the above are in the ports collection. Tcl/Tk is a religion in > and of itself, but Tk can easily be used standalone. You know, I hesitated to say this, because I was against using Motif to begin with (I don't like the window manager at all) but the books on using Motif explain X11 fairly well, and the library from Xinside, at version 2.0, is very up-to-date. I especially liked Marshall Brain's MOTIF programming (Digital Press). Reading that will convince you to buy all the O'Reilly X11 programming manuals, and get you programming in X faster than only reading the X toolkit books, which just aren't as obvious. Maybe that's because Motif has a lot of bells and whistles that are missing in most other widgets. That book will get you programming in X faster than any other direct C method. Of course, there's nothing wrong with Michael's suggestion, but that's a scripting language, not real X (although it may not matter, it it looks like a duck, smells like a duck, quacks like a duck, well, it MAY BE a duck). I doon't think you can equate tk widgets with X. Example: the tk text widget. Fine, dandy widget, but all the neatest parts are PRIVATE! You can't access them directly, you have to go (slowly) thru tcl. I have no idea why those interfaces had to be made static, I really don't. > > > Peter Stubbs, St Aidan's AGS. > > -- > ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ > ]] Genesis Software genesis@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ > ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ > ]] realtime instrument control (ph/fax) +61-8-267-3039 [[ > ]] Collector of old Unix hardware. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[ > ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- Chuck Robey | Interests include any kind of voice or data chuckr@eng.umd.edu | communications topic, C programming, and Unix. 9120 Edmonston Ct #302 | Greenbelt, MD 20770 | I run Journey2 and n3lxx, both FreeBSD (301) 220-2114 | version 2.2 current -- and great FUN! ----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------
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