🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3171A3EA.3F27@dma.epfl.ch>, Michel Tourn <tourn@dma.epfl.ch> writes:

> So, before we trash some C++ framework solution in favour of java, I
> would like to hear good reasons of doing so or not.
> . . .
> F. Java, its IDEs, its AWT, its available class libraries  will be
> appropriate for this task, but not now. 
> A. When ?

The inadequacy of AWT would be compelling for me.  Sun has committed
to adding a few gadgets, but I have seen nothing from them, or from
anyone else, that AWT or some other toolkit will ever be capable of
serious application development.  That is not to say that it won't
happen--just that I see no plans right now, so I'd be very wary of
spending development time betting on some future change in AWT.

Sun's current attitude about AWT offers little hope.  They seem to
think that they can achieve portability by making AWT a subset of the
functionality of existing GUIs; but that attitude is backwards.  To be
truly portable, it must be a superset of existing GUIs, emulating those
functions specific to each on the others in a portable way, and letting
developers query the system for its capabilities in a portable way.

There is never any excuse to sacrifice functionality for portability.
Ever.  Users demand--and rightly so--that they be able to take full
advantage of every dollar they've spent on their hardware and software,
and if they hear "well, we could do that but it wouldn't be portable"
from a vendor, they'll go to a vendor that will do it non-portably.
As a developer, if I can earn 10 cents more by writing a non-portable
program, I will, without the slightest twinge of guilt.

The only way to ensure portability, therefore, is the ensure that a
portable program is capable of doing everything the software needs 
to do, and AWT doesn't even come close.  The glaring omissions for
me are things like right-button popup menus, native video support
(for example, being able to query the system for its color capabilities
and things like monitor gamma, and then optimizing my diplay for it),
portable virtual keys for things like arrow and cut/paste, better
font metrics, and about 1000 more system properties.

Just one man's rant.  Thanks for the soapbox :-)