REAL Linux

[psema4]

> 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.

Python's one of the main reason's I'm heading over to Seneca's OSS
Symposium this month.  It'll be nice to finally take a look at it.

I don't know about the runtime situation - at first glance, it looks
like it's producing static executables, but will have to spend some
time and get a better idea of how "bad" the output is.

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

Whether any OS needs it or not, the tool's exist.  Either programmers
can make them useful, or non-programmers will.  :S

> > 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.

Lmao.

> > 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.

Agreed, though there's nothing but education and experience to make a
good programmer.  Programming concepts are mostly not specific to any
tool or language though.

> > 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?

Not really.  Because after hearing about linux often enough they'll
take a look.  The more similarities that exist between desktop
applications (on linux, mac, 'doze) the easier it will be for them to
migrate from one OS to another.

If I could count the number of times I've had "average" home users
look at linux, only to watch them fall back to windows because app-x
doesn't work anything like it does on windows...

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