Re: [Chicken-users] cross-platform gui toolkit

[Shawn Rutledge]

> I don't need a super GUI. I just want some portable means of creating
> basic, simple GUIs (call them toys, if you want). Add a basic 2D graphics
> API, you can then create all the widgets in the world.

I agree with this point.  The bare minimum is a framebuffer with some
drawing routines; I've done some of that already.  Then it's possible
to build all the widgets in Scheme.  I got interested in OpenGL to
avoid having to write the rest of the 2D drawing routines right now,
and also because I realize that UIs in general are all going 3D and
why be permanently stuck in the past?  I can do 2D just as well with
OpenGL and be prepared to add 3D features as the desire arises.  But
not on every device, so I will need to come up with a 2D API that
works either way.  And then to integrate into existing windowing
systems, it'd be nice to be able use the same low-level 2D routines
either on SDL or the raw framebuffer.

> > It's suicide.  Bind Qt.  It doesn't matter if Qt is not all things to
> > all people.  It has a community behind it, which will cause growth of
> > Chicken.  You dabble a little in every GUI out there, and you have nothing.

And this one too.  :-)  I want to create custom widgets, but I will be
busy building my idea of an ultimate GUI for a long time, and I think
there may be a need in the meantime for a stopgap measure to rapidly
build conventional apps like the everyday kind that already exist.

> Binding Qt takes too much time, Qt is a big dependency for those who
> prefer Gnomish desktops, Qt is too large for some systems. Qt is also quite
> slow. Qt is proprietary.

It runs on high-end phones and PDAs.  It is not terribly proprietary
anymore; it's free for free software.  It is somewhat portable.  The
code for a typical app is pretty elegant, as much as a C++ programmer
could expect.