| Re: PV-WAVE widgets [message #682 is a reply to message #605] |
Fri, 15 January 1993 13:34  |
thompson
Messages: 584
Registered: August 1991
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Senior Member |
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In article <1993Jan7.183538.23237@ucsu.Colorado.EDU>, joslyn@spot.Colorado.EDU (Christopher Joslyn) writes...
> In article <6JAN199316245880@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov> thompson@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Thompson, code 682.1, x2040) writes:
>> In article <1993Jan6.175820.21889@news2.cis.umn.edu>, patel@sparky.drad.umn.edu (8-)) writes...
>
>>> I was wondering if someone out there can summarize the pros and cons
>>> of IDL and WAVE widgets.
>
> Sure, IMHO...
(stuff deleted)
> Interfaces
> ----------
> IDL's interface to their widgets consists of a number of WIDGET_* (BASE,
> BUTTON, LIST, TEXT, INFO, etc) where the different options are passed
> in as parameters and keywords. This type of simplified interface is well
> suited for people who are not familiar with X (or some other kind of GUI
> interface) programming. The learning curve for those folks may be a bit
> faster, but I can't be positive since I wasn't new to GUI programming
> when I used either of them. On the other hand, another reason I liked
> WAVE widgets, is because the interfacing routines were very, VERY similar
> to the C calls needed to create the same thing. Being very similar means
> that most routines like XtCreate() are WtCreate() and take basically the
> same parameters. However, this doesn't mean that it is like programming
> in X. A number of convience routines, Ww*() routines, provide methods
> for initializing the X server, creating pop-up message boxes, etc.
(rest deleted)
Thank you for your discussion of the differences between IDL and PV-WAVE. I
thought it was very clear and informative.
I've always thought of IDL (and by inference PV-WAVE) as a utility for people
who *aren't* sophisticated programmers. I know that I myself hate the idea of
trying to program in C. Having no previous experience with widgets programming
(but being an experienced IDL user), I was able to grasp the rudiments of IDL
widgets programming and be able to write simple routines in about an hour. I
can't comment on the learning curve for PV-WAVE widgets, never having been
exposed to them.
One thing I was unclear on about PV-WAVE widgets: widget routines written in
IDL are completely portable between Motif and OpenLook. Routines written on a
Motif system can be run on an OpenLook system without any software changes.
The application takes on the look and feel of the native system. Supposedly
this will be extended to Microsoft Windows as well. Is the same true about
PV-WAVE, or is one making explicit calls to either the Motif or OpenLook
development libraries?
Bill Thompson
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