REAL Linux

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Mon, Oct 03, 2005 at 04:38:45PM -0400, psema4 wrote:
> I'd agree for the most part.  I've always hated VB.  The value I see
> in it though, is the same value that made RAD tools so popular.
> 
> The ability to quickly create featureful linux desktop applications is
> important for bringing increasing numbers of people to the linux
> desktop, and offers, I think, some serious potential for innovative
> startups.

I have seen some amazingly nice programs written in python (which I have
never gotten around to learning myself) using some of the handy
libraries it has, and it can make graphical useful applications with
much less effort than you would think.  I doubt the commercial RAD tool
would do better.  Using one of the RAD tools tends to just tie you into
a proprietary runtime and leaves you with code that is often not
portable to anything else should you decide you need to continue
development.

I don't think this is at all the kind of thing Linux (or Windows for
that matter) needs.

> I am certain the resultant executables will not be as good as if
> they'd been done with gcc, but for the most part, the average home
> user couldn't really care less about how it was built.

Well you can make crap with gcc too, it just takes more effort than most
people are willing to put into it.

> In addition to the standard GUI and database components, it includes
> components for building games, internet applications, etc.

Tools to let non programmers think they can write programs are not that
useful in my opinion because they don't make people good programers.

> The programmer in me definately agrees we don't need any more horrid
> code.  On the other hand, my advocate side is thinking this is a good
> thing for the desktop.

Because desktop users expect crappy applications?

Lennart Sorensen
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