[pm-h] Prima ... and more

[G. Wade Johnson]

On Mon, 3 Oct 2005 07:53:07 -0500 (CDT)
Paul Archer <tigger at io.com> wrote:

> 6:56am, G. Wade Johnson wrote:
> 
> > I haven't seen Prima before. A comparison might be interesting. I think
> > the documentation idea is a good one. (Of course, documenting someone
> > else's code is not everyone's idea of fun.<grin/>) Do you have any other
> > impressions of Prima so far?
> >
> Hell, documenting your own code isn't the most fun thing, either. 8-)
> So far, the big thing is that it seems fast, and relatively easy to use 
> (since it was written for Perl specifically). It also has ties to PDL and 
> another module set for doing image transformations.

Sounds like it is much more focused on image work than most of the GUI
frameworks. Could be interesting.


> > I have recently run across documentation for Gtk2-Perl
> > (http://forgeftp.novell.com/exam/documentation/html/index.html). That
> > makes three GUI toolkits for Perl that I've heard of.
> >
> Actually, there are a few more, too. In addition to Perl/Tk, Gtk/Perl, and 
> Prima, there are bindings for:
> FLTK (fast light toolkit, www.fltk.org) (zero documentation for the Perl
> interface) WxWidgets (www.wxwidgets.org wxperl.sourceforge.net) (poor Perl
> docs) Qt (www.trolltech.com)
> PicoGUI (www.picogui.org)

I should have remembered Qt, we use it at work in C++. I'm still learning it.
Amusingly enough, I just found that it is already installed on my system here
at home.

> > It might be an interesting exercise to try to build the same small project
> > with all three to see how they each handle basic tasks. We could generate
> > a comparison showing strengths and weaknesses.
> >
> that could be fun. We might start with a simple Perl/Tk app (like the one 
> you used as an example in your talk earlier this year) and see how much work
> it is to port it.

I'm kind of thinking of (at least two) comparison programs.

  - A basic "hello world" example.
  - Maybe something like the example you suggested.

If we had people with _real_ expertise in all of the frameworks, we could add
a program that showcases any special features (like the image support in
Prima).

Would anyone like to step up to try ports to various frameworks?

I have Qt.pm installed and was already going to look at Gtk2-Perl. But, I
don't think I could manage both in a reasonable period of time.

Paul, are you up to porting a couple of programs to Prima?

If we have enough interest, we could even work out our specifications on the
list and post versions for other people to test on multiple platforms.

Is anyone (besides Paul and myself) interested?

Later,
G. Wade
-- 
Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add but when there
is nothing more to take out.             -- Antoine de Saint Exupery