🚀 go-pugleaf

>>>>> On 18 Jun 91 07:34:06 GMT, mago@delphi.it (Giovanni Beani) said:

Giovanni> 1) "On what platforms (SunOS, SCO, VMS, etc. etc.) the XView toolkit
Giovanni> is present at moment?"

Sun-3/SunOS, SPARC/SunOS is available from MIT.
IBM/AIX, DEC/Ultrix, HP/HPUX is available from Unipress (see add in
UnixWorld, June '91, p.97).
Quaterdeck claims to have a PC/DESQview version "real soon now".
I've heard of a Mac/AUX port, but I can't remember by whom.
Can't remember hearing of a SCO port, offhand.

Giovanni> 2) "What about differences (for a programmer view) between
Giovanni> Motif and XView?"

OSF/MOTIF is based on the X Toolkit Intrinsics, while XView uses a
completely different API. The XView API is modeled on the SunView API,
making the transition easier for Sun programmers.

In my view, the XView API is nicer to work with. It's much simpler for
beginners to learn, and you quickly get up to speed. It has some nice
layout facilities for panels, and in general provides some nice
abstractions. It's callback method is both simple and powerful.

The XView API is mature, having existed in various forms on Sun
platforms for years. It's not exactly elegant, but in daily use it's
a very practical tool. It shows it's age in places. The models is
kind-of object oriented, and you *can* create subclasses, but to do so
you have to take quite a leap. You can't really blame XView here --
doing OO without language support isn't my kind of fun, an Intrinsic
based toolkits are no better in this respect. (A good C++ toolkit
or a C++-encapsulation of XView would help here).

I've done some major (commercial) projects with XView, and I have
taught it with quite a bit of success. I like it. 

Oh, and Dan Hellers book on XView (vol. 7 in the ORA series) is really
very good for learning how to use XView. Also, the GUIDE user
interface editor (available for Sun's for $200) is really handy for
prototyping things and for learning how to put things together.
Looking through the code generated by GUIDE is often a very good way
to pick up the right approach for handling a job.

/Lars
--
Lars Fischer,  fischer@iesd.auc.dk   | It takes an uncommon mind to think of
CS Dept., Univ. of Aalborg, DENMARK. | these things.  -- Calvin