Defining VCL-like framework for Python

[Hans Nowak]

On 19 May 99, Ce'Nedra took her magical amulet and heard Alexander Staubo say:

>> Alexander Staubo wrote...
>> 
>> >Delphi is particularly good -- especially compared to such toolkits as
>> >Microsoft's MFC -- because it offers clean OOP concepts,
>> 
>> Hmm, it's not that clean, but that's not the point here... :)
>
>It's arguably cleaner and more robust than Python's OO implementation, but
>possibly that's just me.

It's a matter of taste and choice. One area where Delphi bites me is that 
when you design X forms, only slightly different, you have to design all X of 
them from scratch. Sure, you can copy & paste and such, but when you need to 
change code, you'll have to do it in all the forms. Not very maintainable. -- 
Of course experienced Delphi "programmers" have ways to avoid or minimize 
this, but my point is, putting the layout of the form in code does have its 
benefits. In Python/Tk, you can design a more or less abstract class, then 
derive from it.

>For example, and I might have this wrong (ie., there could be 
>workarounds), Python has problems with cyclic references. If two objects
>have references to each other, you need to delete both objects to resolve
>the link: There's no support for weak connections to objects, other than
>inane workarounds such as factory functions or referring to objects by
>string names.

It seems that cyclic references are one of Python's problems, yes. So you 
need to avoid those. :^)

>> While you are of course entitled to your opinion, I beg to differ...
>> I've been using both: Delphi at work, Python for kicks, and while
>> Tkinter had a bit of learning curve (also because it's so different from
>> Delphi) I now find that developing in Python & Tkinter is not
>> significantly slower, or more painful, than in Delphi.
>
>And there are even people who like the MFC. :)

Hey now... You don't need to get rude... :^)

>[snip]
>> I think designing all-new components (not constructed from existing
>> ones) won't be that easy, though.  Is it possible?   *looks expectantly
>> at Tkinter demigods*
>
>But worth it.

So I suggest you design them, and we decide if it's worth it. ;^)

Veel liefs,

+  Hans Nowak  (Zephyr Falcon)
+  Homepage (under construction): http://www.cuci.nl/~hnowak/
+  You call me a masterless man. You are wrong. I am my own master.
+  May a backbone slider tell you your moms!