On Fri, 6 Feb 2004 goran.krampe at bluefish.se wrote:

> "Blanchard, Todd" <todd.blanchard at cendant.com> wrote:
> > If you're going to play with something like that, why not do it with this?
> >
> > http://wxwindows.org/
> >
> > Then us mac people could play too.

Mac folks can use GTK+, at least on OS X.  Of course, it isn't completely
finished, but it doesn't require X11. But it does run CinePaint (nee
Film Gimp), though in an alpha state.

http://gtk-osx.sourceforge.net/

Sure, it doesn't look like a native Mac app, but it's better than nothing.
I too would rather have someone use an API that looked native, but at the
same time, I'd much rather have GTK+ rather than nothing. I'm not doing
the work, and if Goran chooses to bestow upon us something fun and
potentially useful, I'm not going to complain.

> 1. It is C-focused. So are Squeak plugins and the make structure etc in
> Squeak. AFAIK wxWin is C++, not sure if I want to go there... :)

There is some sort of C API for wxWindows. That, or one is generated by
SWIG. A number of languages which only have a C interface have wxWindows
libraries; DrScheme/MzScheme and Python come to mind.  But then again,
AFAIK, SWIG doesn't support Squeak, or else wxWindows would be a snap- but
then again, so would GTK+ most likely.

> 2. I have heard here and there that wx is slow and also suffers a bit
> from the LCD problems (is that the right name? Least Common
> Denominator?). But that is just hearsay. Not sure about how wx evolves
> nowadays, is it live and kicking like Gtk?

GTK+ is used by more people, so not surprisingly, I'd say GTK+ is more
alive in some ways. But otherwise, wxWindows is used plenty of places and
is an active project.

What do you mean by LCD problems?  Rather, what kinds of problems?

> 3. I like Gtk. :) It looks very nice, seems to have a lot of momentum
> and is AFAIK very themeable.

If you like the look of GTK+, you're in luck. wxWindows- on Unix and
Linux- uses GTK+ as its widget set. If you support wxWindows, you support
GTK+.

But then again, if the reason you like GTK+ is not the looks of it but
rather the way you code it, or maybe you like the hierarchy or some other
GTK+ specific idiosyncrasy then I have no answer for you.

> 5. Gtk is getting more and more portable.

But it retains its look.  Though, that doesn't really matter to anyone but
Mac OS X people, and a tiny bit to Windows folks.  Sure, you could use a
wanna-be Aqua theme for GTK+, but IMHO, those just look like crap.  One is
better off using a standard BlueCurve or Motif-ish theme- at least it
looks decent.

Regards,
Aaron

--
  "the end of the human race will be that it will eventually
      die of civilization. "                          :: r. w. emerson