bruce@idsssd.UUCP (Bruce T. Harvey) (04/10/91)
(Forgive me if this is not the right group for this query ... I could
not find anything specific enough for this query. If you know of
better news groups, I'd be more than happy to hear from you :-).
We're looking to upgrade our current programming practices to become a
little bit more portable (shock of shocks), and we're looking at
character-based menu and window generation programs. Definitely _not_
GUI, X-anything, or any of that ilk, although I admit that I prefer a
Mac-type interface to the one we use here.
Two products we are curious about (since they cost the most and offer
the most) are C-Scape and Vermont Views. We've been provided with
MS-DOS demo kits for each, and each claims to run "the same" under UNIX
;-), but we'd like to know if anyone has any opinions and (especially)
comparisons they'd like to share. You don't have to be UNIX to reply to
this ... any info is welcome.
Our areas of curiosity are: speed during execution (especially compared
to straight curses), ease of use, ease of maintenance, pitfalls, traps,
grumbles, support, ... in short, anything you can think of that you
would consider when purchasing a multi-$K product.
Please E-mail replies to me ( bruce@idsssd.UUCP ). I will post results
if enough replies come in.
Also, if you know of other news groups where I could post this, please
let me know. I looked for something that related to "reviews" but I
couldn't find anything.
A t D h V a A n N k C s E
Bruce T. Harvey
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=^=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=marriott@grebyn.com (Marriott Corp.) (04/15/91)
In article <1991Apr10.141749.26112@idsssd.UUCP> bruce@idsssd.UUCP (Bruce T. Harvey) writes: > > [stuff deleted] > >Two products we are curious about (since they cost the most and offer >the most) are C-Scape and Vermont Views. > I have used Vermont Views under MS-DOS and I really loved using it. I thought the library-programmer interface was great. The naming conventions were very sensible and their general software approach was very clean. You can either have "loose" control of your screens (i.e., you let VV have complete control), or you can have very tight control. We needed very tight control and managed to accompished just about everything we wanted to. VV has many "hook-points" at which you can take control and modify the normal functioning of the screen. I recommend it highly. Performance was very snappy under MS-DOS. I am currently using a screen package under unix called JAM. Although it doesn't seem to allow quite as tight control as VV, is has other advantages. JAM has an "authoring" tool in which screens can be built and tested interactively. This tool is similar to, but a little more powerful than, the VV designer. JAM is *very* portable. We currently use versions for MS-DOS, SCO Unix, AIX, and AT&T Unix SVR4. There is also a MOTIF version of JAM which allows your ASCII-developed screens to be tranparently used in a MOTIF/X-Windows environment. JAM is developed by JYACC (offices in NY City). Both JAM and VV are excellent products, but with different approaches and different strengths. Chris