snoopy@ixos.de (12/21/90)
Dear Net,
a while ago (November) I posted a query regarding C++ Bindings for MOTIF.
I got a few replies and would like to thank the following people:
Dan Stenger (stenger@ti-csl.csc.ti.com)
Dave Hu (dave@objv.com)
ernst@athen.uucp
Jean-Daniel Fekete (jdf@lri.lri.fr)
Didier Plateau (didier@nibelung.altair.fr)
Thank you all very much for you help.
The idea is that you can get such bindings from the University of Lowell
and the OSF.
Here is the summary (somewhat longish) of what I got...
----
"The C++ bindings were written by the University of Lowell under a research
award from the OSF Research Institute. The bindings have been available
from OSF since June, however I believe that they are only available to
OSF member organizations (at least that's what the distribution note
said).
I believe your best bet is to contact the OSF Research Institute directly
to see if you can obtain a tape, and at what price. The person you should
contact is
Chantal Eide
OSF Research Institute
(617) 621-8889
osfri.osf.org"
"Last year, OSF contracted the University of Lowell to implement a C++ binding
to Motif. We have received the following from ULowell:
What Page count
---------------------------------------------------------- ----------
(1) C++ binding document, 37
(2) the order form, 1
(3) the software usage license agreement, 3
(4) a boiler-plate for a commercial license agreement, and 7
(5) an overview of the Motif language bindings. 2
Item (1), the C++ binding document, gives a good overview of the C++ binding
to Motif. The C++ binding is more than just a simple C++ interface to Motif
since it defines C++ objects which parallel the Motif/Xt objects and methods.
This allows the user of the binding to deal more naturally with Motif via the
C++ language.
Item (2), the order form, states that this binding is available for $200 via
FTP, or for $500 if you want it on tape. There are places to specify the
binding being ordered: C++, FORTRAN and Ada.
Item (3), the software usage license agreement, is rather ordinary and easy to
read. Two items of interest are (a) it is a single-site license, and (b) it
does not allow for use in a product for sale. To use the binding in such a
product, one must obtain another license which is item (4).
When we received item (4) on May 17, 1990, the we also received information
regarding site license prices:
Corporate wide license $30,000
Single site license $10,000
LAN license $5,000
Single department license $1,000
Single machine license $500
Note that the prices conflict with what is stated in items (2) [$200 or $500]
and (3) [site license is an mailing address]. As you can tell from the page
count, item (4) is more complex than item (3).
Item (5) is more like a README file and describes the (currently) three
language bindings of Motif: C++, FORTRAN and Ada. It also lists the following
where more information can be obtained.
University of Lowell
Computer Science Department
Graphics Research Laboratory/Motif
One University Avenue
Lowell, MA 01854
attn: Fran Ward
(phone: 508-934-3628)
Note that this not a technical contact, but this person will be able to mail
you the information we received. The following is an excerpt from item (5):
The following features are included:
o Completely hides the concept of a widget from the programmer.
C++ objects are provided corresponding to the widgets with the
necessary methods.
o All the Intrinsics functions are also available as methods.
o ANSI compatible header files are provided for the Xm, Xt and
Xlib libraries.
o Convenient macros are provided for making the C++ program look
clean.
o Widget resources are now methods in the C++ object. All the
methods are provided for creating new class constructors.
o Complete source code.
o Reasonable documentation, and demo programs.
In addition to ULowell, we have also been in contact with OSF to obtain the
C++ interface to Motif. Recall from above that OSF contracted with ULowell to
implement the C++ language binding to Motif. My last mail message from OSF
contained the following:
Date: Fri, 18 May 90 18:37:42 GMT-0400
We received your request for one or several of the following
distributions:
MIT Project Athena: OSF/Motif Applications
University of Guelph: OSF/Motif graphical shell
University of Lowell: OSF/Motif language bindings.
We are setting up a distribution mechanism and will send you
instructions by 1 June on how you may obtain the distributions.
Thank you for your patience,
Chantal Eide
OSF Research Institute
We have paid $250 for the Motif C++ Language Bindings in 9 track reel
form and $100 for overseas shipment.
----
There is also a different tack from Jean-Daniel (jdf@lri.lri.fr):
"I have a package called WWL, widget wrapper library for C++. It
works with both C++ and g++. It works with motif-1.0 and soon with
motif 1.1 and athena.
It creates a bunch of C++ classes which wraps the widgets and some
utility functions.
You can get it from expo.lcs.mit.edu in contrib/WWL-1.0.tar.Z and
also, in france, on lri.lri.fr, in pub/WWL-1.0.tar.Z
Jean-Daniel.
jdf@lri.lri.fr"
Thats all, folks ! Thank you once again all who responded.
Love,
Have a merry X-Mas, a cool Yule and a happy New Year !
Snoopy (Sebastian)
PS On holiday from 22nd dec tioll 6th Jan.
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