[Edu-sig] would you use PythonCard?

[agauld@crosswinds.net]

On 1 Sep 01, at 10:24, Roman Suzi wrote:
> >Maybe PythonCard has the better approach for occasional users.
> Well, Alan, have you ever used HyperCard?

I confess never to have used it "hands on". 
BUt I have project managed a Mac project where Hypercard 
was used and it was great for getting somehthing out 
quickly. But within 3 releases all the Hypercard stuff 
had been rewritten... But then 2 releases later the Mac 
version itself had stopped being produced but that doesn't 
mean Macs are bad! :-)

Most of my comments are based on general experiences 
with so called "higher level" GUI toolkits and a read thru' 
the stuff about PythonCard. They provide a powerful 
startup tool for straightforward apps but often run out of
steam when we push the boundaries.

But then there are a lot of straighforward apps out there.

I wasn't meaning to be disparaging about either Hypercard or 
PythonCard, they are worthy products/ideals but I was simply 
expressing why a previous poster may have felt "yawn" at the 
thought of another GUI builder/environment.

Also I guess pointing out that GUI RAD doesn't need to be 
visual. Python(and Tcl/Tk) has a very different approach to 
incremental GUI development. (IMHO Python is superior to Tcl in 
this respect but I'm sure Tcl fans would disagree). Native Python 
feels more like early Smalltalk than Hypercard to me, both are 
productive environments.

> Your opinion on "GUI builders" is probably due to the fact that most of
> them are lame. 

Thats possibly true!

> And "occasional users" are those who come to Python from
> successful encounter with superb GUI builder.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. I think there are a lot of 
occasional users coming at Python from lots of directions - 
education, Sys admin, Web development and yes maybe 
GUI work too.

> So, please, do not underestimate PythonCard potential!

I'll keep an open mind, and probably even have a play with 
it - I usually do when these things come up.

Alan G