I've been going over the CLM/GINA distribution from GMD the past few
days and I'm quite impressed with the Motif API callable from within
LISP. As a C/C++ programmer and a LISP novice, this API is very
attractive. However I'm concerned because the package seems to have
been last updated in 1992 (well, the documentation at least.) Is this
software still in active development? Is anyone using it?
Also the package source code and documentation contain references to a
graphing widget that is not included in the general distribution due
to a "more restrictive copyright"- can anyone shed some more light on
this widget and its availability (or lack thereof)?
I also plan to take a look at Garnet as mentioned in the FAQ, so if
anyone has comments on that particular package I'd like to hear from
you as well (I will post summaries to the newsgroup, if appropriate.)
Thank you.
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http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~armhold
·······@tenebris.rutgers.edu (George Armhold) writes:
>I've been going over the CLM/GINA distribution from GMD the past few
>days and I'm quite impressed with the Motif API callable from within
>LISP. As a C/C++ programmer and a LISP novice, this API is very
>attractive. However I'm concerned because the package seems to have
>been last updated in 1992 (well, the documentation at least.) Is this
>software still in active development? Is anyone using it?
In fact, usage seems rare these days.
>Also the package source code and documentation contain references to a
>graphing widget that is not included in the general distribution due
>to a "more restrictive copyright"- can anyone shed some more light on
>this widget and its availability (or lack thereof)?
>I also plan to take a look at Garnet as mentioned in the FAQ, so if
>anyone has comments on that particular package I'd like to hear from
>you as well (I will post summaries to the newsgroup, if appropriate.)
You absolutely need a high-end-compiler to use Garnet for more that
trying out isolated features. The only free one is CMU CL.
Garnet is a wonderful package if you want interactive applcation where
some of the interaction is handled by the toolkit, not by the
programmer. The nice thing about garnet is that you can describe how
to interact with the user in an abstract, compact way. Instead of
handling each event yourself. Note that the Lisp version of Garnet is
no loger officially supported, too.
And it is hard to learn, bulky and sometimes slow. (Note: It's easy to
learn seen in the light of it's capabilities. The entry for new users
is higher that with other toolkits).
If you need a package with an elegant interface to normal GUI
capabilities (just using widgets), you may try one of the Lisps with
an interface to Tk or Motif.
- gcl-2.x with Tk which is Common Lisp.
- STk, which is scheme and is probably the most descent
Lisp/Tk-combination today.
- The latest GUILE snapshot, which is under development. It is clearly
stable enough to be useable, but you may run into trouble with
insufficient documentation.
- Winterp, which uses standard Motif widgets and is based on Xlisp.
- elk, which is a Scheme that connects to several Xt-based widgets
kits, Motif among them.
Take yoru pick: If your goal is too learn as much as possible about
GUI programming, you probably should just use Garnet. It will really
boost your knowledge.
The Tk-based systems are easiest to learn. Maybe you want to use the
"real" Motif toolkit, they are harder to learn, but some companies try
to avoid anything non-Motif.
If you're not sure how long and much much you're going to program in
Lisp, you may prefer a Scheme system. Common Lisp takes much longer to
be used to.
Also note that Motif sucks and there are more useable GUI toolkits
even for C++.
Martin
--
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Martin Cracauer <········@wavehh.hanse.de> - BSD User Group Hamburg, Germany
"As far as I'm concerned, if something is so complicated that you can't ex-"
"plain it in 10 seconds, then it's probably not worth knowing anyway"- Calvin