I couldn't find any CLIM/CAPI entries on the comp.lang.lisp FAQ, so my
apologies if this comes up often.
I notice that people ask a lot of CAPI questions here and post
examples, but isn't CLIM supposed to be the main LISP UI api?
What are the differences between CLIM and CAPI? Why/when are they
each used? Why are so many samples/questions posted here with CAPI?
Which is "better"?
My business partner and I have been studying LISP for about 6 months
now and we love the language. Almost everything I've ever hated about
Java or C is simply a non-issue with LISP. We've written a bunch of
little utilities for the back end of our software business in LISP now
(serial number generators, etc.) and are considering actually using it
for the software that we would write for public consumption. But, of
course, we'll need a robust GUI library and so have begun evaluating
CAPI and CLIM.
Is CAPI cross-platform? How cross-platform is CLIM? We target Mac and
Windows. I've yet to find a seamless and elegant cross-platform GUI
solution, but Java comes very close.
Thanks,
Chris Perkins
Media Lab, Inc. / As Is Software, Inc.
http://www.medialab.com
········@medialab.com (Chris Perkins) writes:
> Is CAPI cross-platform? How cross-platform is CLIM? We target Mac and
> Windows. I've yet to find a seamless and elegant cross-platform GUI
> solution, but Java comes very close.
CAPI is cross-platform, but it isn't cross-vendor: the only vendor who
supplies it is Xanalys. LispWorks doesn't run on Macintoshes, so you
can't use CAPI on Macs.
CLIM is cross-platform and cross-vendor (Franz, Xanalys, Digitool and
others(?)) supply it. It will work on any box that any of the previous
vendors support, which includes Windows, Macintosh, and a plethora of
Unix workstations.
Gabe Garza
On Wed, 31 Oct 2001 19:25:05 GMT, Gabe Garza <·······@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> CLIM is cross-platform and cross-vendor (Franz, Xanalys, Digitool and
> others(?)) supply it. It will work on any box that any of the previous
The Free CLIM/McCLIM project is working on an implementation that, as far
as I know, currently works on Unix systems. More platforms will likely be
supported in the future.
Paolo
--
EncyCMUCLopedia * Extensive collection of CMU Common Lisp documentation
http://web.mclink.it/amoroso/ency/README
[http://cvs2.cons.org:8000/cmucl/doc/EncyCMUCLopedia/]
> I couldn't find any CLIM/CAPI entries on the comp.lang.lisp FAQ, so my
> apologies if this comes up often.
>
> I notice that people ask a lot of CAPI questions here and post
> examples, but isn't CLIM supposed to be the main LISP UI api?
I use CAPI because
1) I use LispWorks. (on windows)
2) When I was writing my first GUI based application I tried the CLIM
examples that came with LWW. Their were bugs in the examples and things
would not work. I did not have time to decide if the example code was
flawed or that there was problems with Xanalys's CLIM implementation.
3) I did not find any examples or indications in the documentation that one
could draw images (bitmaps, gifs, ...) on a graphics device. The only
indication was CLIM's draw-pixmap function which did not seem to do the job.
CAPI had the ability to draw (and blt) windows bitmaps. Case closed.
4) There was more little examples in the CAPI documentation than in the CLIM
doucments of how to use buttons, checkboxes. Thus it was easier to learn.
5) LWW originally shipped with only CAPI, so in the back of my mind I
thought that CAPI was the perferred choice since Xanalys made it easier to
access.
6) In Xanalys's comparison between CAPI and CLIM they stated they were
functionally very similar. In fact they state that CLIM is implemented with
CAPI.
http://www.xanalys.com/software_tools/reference/lwu41/climuser/GUID_338.HTM#
HEADING338-0
Even though I use CAPI, I am a little frustrated with its limitations. I
have just accepted that it has artistical and aesthetic limits when
designing a GUI. Of course with enough time (and capi:output-panes and
gp:graphics-ports) you can essentially do just about anything and get any
type of look and feel. But that is just me. For most cases where a text
based interface is presented in a windowed (GUI) format CAPI is just fine.
Wade
"Wade Humeniuk" <········@cadvision.com> wrote in message
·················@news3.cadvision.com...
> 6) In Xanalys's comparison between CAPI and CLIM they stated they were
> functionally very similar. In fact they state that CLIM is implemented
with
> CAPI.
>
I usually don't wade in on CLIM debates, but this analysis is
just plain wrong. CAPI provides the low-level window and
drawing services for CLIM.
Asserting this conclusion by saying that CLIM is implemented
with CAPI is as accurate as saying Lisp and x86 assembly code
are functionally very similar, because Lisp is implemented using
x86 assembly code on a PC.
"Scott McKay" <···@mediaone.net> writes:
> "Wade Humeniuk" <········@cadvision.com> wrote in message
> ·················@news3.cadvision.com...
> > 6) In Xanalys's comparison between CAPI and CLIM they stated they were
> > functionally very similar. In fact they state that CLIM is implemented
> with
> > CAPI.
> >
>
> I usually don't wade in on CLIM debates, but this analysis is
> just plain wrong. CAPI provides the low-level window and
> drawing services for CLIM.
Well, has the "cannot create a button instance outside of a container"
misfeature being fixed?
Cheers
--
Marco Antoniotti ========================================================
NYU Courant Bioinformatics Group tel. +1 - 212 - 998 3488
719 Broadway 12th Floor fax +1 - 212 - 995 4122
New York, NY 10003, USA http://bioinformatics.cat.nyu.edu
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