Python declarative
Steven D'Aprano
steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info
Sun Jan 26 07:21:18 EST 2014
On Sun, 26 Jan 2014 08:03:18 +0200, Frank Millman wrote:
> I do not expect anyone to read or edit the XML - it is just a storage
> format. I am sure it could be done in JSON or YAML as well.
But that's not what you originally said. You stated:
"here is how I would write your simple 'About' box"
and compared your XML to actual code written by Chris.
As I said in my previous post, if the XML is intended as a purely
internal document, written by and read by your application, it's not so
bad. (But then XML is intended for document *exchange*, i.e. from one
application to another. If your XML is just used *internally*, with no
interchange needed, why not use a more efficient internal format?
XML's strength is that it is a well-known standard that allows
application A to interchange documents with application B. But it's
weaknesses include, it is neither efficient like a custom-designed binary
format, not human-editable.
It seems to me that if I were in your position, I would have the GUI
designer generate source code in some language directly, rather than XML.
Ah, wait! An idea strikes... if your GUI designer generates XML, you
could then have a plug-in system to convert the XML to source code in
whatever languages the plug-in supports. So that's a possible good use
for XML as an intermediate language.
> One objective is to make it easy for non-programmers to modify forms and
> create new ones. I showed a screenshot earlier that illustrated a
> 'button' definition.
The idea of drag-and-drop GUI designers is hardly new. I was using one
back in 1986 or '88, Apple's Hypercard. Now that was a user-friendly
programming language/environment/toolkit.
--
Steven
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