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List:       kde-debian
Subject:    Re: Control Center or separate application? Was: Kalternatives 0.2
From:       Juanjo Alvarez <juanjux () progressive-comp ! com>
Date:       2004-01-02 18:57:15
Message-ID: 20040102195715.A1387 () pascual ! mired
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On Thu, Jan 01, 2004 at 12:54:42PM +0000, Simon Edwards wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Personally, I'm a fan of the way Apple and most of newer 'desktop' distros 
> (ArkLinux etc) are going (and also Windows for that matter). Large icons and 
> text laid out in a window with the applications being launched in separate 
> windows. I just find it easier to navigate and organise stuff than the 
> current Control Center.

Yes, that is exactly the idea I have in mind for the Debian-admin
tool(s) I'm developing and others like the mentioned previously (kcron,
kuser, etc), an HTML view that can include icons and text in a nice
layout explaining what the program launched by those icons do, very much
like the Windows XP control center (which I think is very good, windows
or not).

> > So as far as I can 
> > see, Control Center modules have to be developed with C++, with raises the 
> > bar for contributions considerably.
> 
> To be honest, I don't think we can afford to continue writing everything in 
> C++. It costs too much work and is too slow. This is very important to keep 
> in mind when it comes to things like admin tools, for a number of reasons:

The reason for me developing right now in Python is that I'm about 4
times more productive on it than on C++ and debugging is a lot less
painful (python tracebacks rule). But once an app is developed in Python
(or "prototiped") it is very quick and easy to translate it to C++; I
usually develop this way on my work when I need performance, but since
most of these tools doesn't need performance (after all they're admin
tools no 3D games) I'll continue programming them in Python.

> * Distros will want to hack and extend admin tools.

I really hope the work we're doing on KDE-Debian can be picked and
improved (and the improvements shared) by other Debian based
distributions.

> * KDE should aim towards supporting and making better use of scripting 
> languages. 

Absolutely. I love C++, it is IMHO one of the most powerfull languages
that are also practical (at least until www.digitalmars.com/d get more
finished) but Python rocks for the things where it can be used instead
of C++ for his elegance and productivity (and his features set doesn't
lacks the C++ one too much, except for the speed).

Cheers,
        Juanjo
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