rcw@qetzal.UUCP (Robert C. White) (02/29/88)
This is the first time I've paid any attention to windowing let alone this part of the net. Please excuse me if the questions below seems extremely naive. (It wouldn't be the first time) We are faced with developing a windowing interface for Unix for our applications, and I'm just starting to think about it. The other day, the Front Range Unix User's Group met. This meeting was devoted to discussion of various windowing systems including ms-windows, x, smalltalk-80, mac environment, etc. The big point that came up was that code is very, very difficult to port from one windowing environment to another because of a lack of standardization at the "toolkit" level. For example, it would be very difficult for Cadnetix to port its stuff to a Mac Environment, and vice-versa. This causes lots and lots of problems for users (and programmers) because each group is acquainted with their respective way of doing things. From a management point of view it's a nightmare - I can't just recompile with a toolkit on another machine in a different environment - with the possible exception of 'X'. Frankly I don't understand the wisdom of linking a windowing package into one's application. Wouldn't it make more sense if this were accomplished in the firmware of a very smart terminal/console? Wouldn't it make sense to implement a windowcap capability? The folks at Cadnetix needed Unix, but don't like the accompanying speed loss in software (a tradeoff when they went to non-dedicated hardware). I can see great advantages is dedicating terminal hardware to windowing functions. Also, a big stink was made about the fact that programming these environments is very, very difficult. I guess I am hearing that the interface should be standardized at a higher level than it currently is now. Apparently ms-windows is about an order of magnitude more difficult to program than the Mac. Now that I'm faced with selecting such an environment, I would appreciate any input you might have in terms of standards, and what direction the window world is going. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ US SNAIL: 11534 Steele St, Thornton, CO. } Robert White { MA BELL : (303) 252-9090 } ihnp4!upba!qetzal!rcw { HORSE : Jct Platte River & Cherry Creek ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~