Re: The future of Octave

[João Cardoso]

Trond Eivind GlomsrØd wrote:

> >    Tcl is too slow, especially since everyone is obviously concerned about
> >    execution time.  I say we should use C++m which Octave can already
> >    dynamicly load.
> >
> > Tcl would be indeed too slow if one wanted to use it for
> > computation---but I don't think this is being contemplated. I think a
> > better idea is to wrap up Tk widgets into octave wrappers; so instead
> > of Tcl loop running Tk widgets you'd run Octave loop.
> 
> Argh. TclTk can best be decribed as "evil" and "obsolete", and I think
> the company who did this (Scriptics, which changed the name and was
> bought) has dropped it.
> 
> If a GUI is to be made, I think using gtk+ would be better - it's the
> foundation of GNOME, GNU's desktop. If taking the next step and using
> gnome, visualization could be done through bonobo.

This problem has been raised several times in the mailing lists.
Yes, tcl is ugly, but using Tk as a GUI is fast enought (look at
http://merlin.inescn.pt/Šþqual/tk_octave)

Yes, gtk is nicer; no, xxx is slow, ah, but yyy is promising, no ZZZ is
"first principles" based!

This is not the correct way. Define a generic interface and let each one
use what he likes! Don't bind Octave to anything more than is just
needed: using GNOME or XXX or YYY would limit users to linux (and unix
is more than just linux!; and the dos/windows/mac guys?). This is also
true for ploting; as is now, Octave can be used with gnuplot, even on
mac, ms-windows, or amiga, or atari (!?).

As I see it, TK, being multi-platform (mac, u*nix, mswin), is the ideal
approach for a prototype implementation; also, the tk-perl/phyton
approach could be analysed and eventually used.

tcl/tk, being free soft, has no problems, as its creator/maintainer life
show us: sun/scriptics/ajuba, and now something else.

Joao

PS- John Eaton, thanks a lot for Octave and personal support in the last
half decade! Let the Force be with you!

-- 
João Cardoso, address@hidden
Gab. I-314, tel. 1888



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