Re: Xconq 7.2.1 Preview Available

[Stan Shebs <shebs@cygnus.com>]

   Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 20:35:12 +0200 (MET DST)
   From: Jan Jona Javorsek <jan.javorsek@guest.arnes.si>

   I think the decision for a new toolkit is a crucial one and all
   alternatives should be carefully compared. Many people dislike gtk
   programming interface and many people (that is, I certanly do :) ) find
   tcl/tk terribly slow (although nice looking).

OK, so here are the goals and constraints.  I'm not particularly
religious about toolkits, so will consider anything that meets the
requirements.

* My ideal is to have graphical versions of Xconq on Unix/X11, Mac,
and Windows 95/NT.  I would accept interfaces for other platforms,
but wouldn't put much personal effort into them.

* Xconq should have a uniform appearance on all platforms - maps
should have the same images, colors, magnifications, etc.

* The interaction machinery should have some common elements, such as
keyboard commands, but other elements, such as menus or popups, may be
different for each platform.  These should be able to use as much
common code as possible, however.

* Any toolkits must either be available with the programming
environment (MFC with VC++) or free software (tcl/tk).

* A toolkit must support basic animation.

* A toolkit must be either be optimizable, or allow access to the
fundamental API (X11 under Xaw for instance), for speed-critical
display code.

* A toolkit must be able to handle the display of very complex maps,
such as earth-50km (200,000+ cells, 3,000+ units).

* A toolkit must allow for tuning of the details of interface elements
so as to look "professional" for the platforms supported.

* A toolkit must support the construction of interfaces that look
"native" for each platform (tcl 8 not tcl 7).

* I'm generally happy with the existing Mac interface, and generally
unhappy with the existing X11 interface, and want to rewrite all its
toolkit-level code (low-level drawing code is OK).

From what I can tell, latest tcl/tk offers most of these, with speed
in some operations being the trickiest issue.  tcl/tk also has an
unfair advantage, in that several tcl experts report to me at Cygnus!
But again, I'm not religious, and can be persuaded otherwise.

							Stan