Author: Russell Reagan
Date: 18:44:03 01/15/04
Go up one level in this thread
On January 15, 2004 at 08:24:21, martin fierz wrote: Hi Martin, I, like several others, would highly recommend using wxWindows (http://www.wxwindows.org/). It uses C++, but I don't think you would have a difficult time using it. I have considered writing a GUI for another board game, and if I do, I will definitely use wxWindows (or one of its variants, wxPython maybe). I would recommend it to you for the following reasons: * It's easy to use * It has portable support for windowed programs, which can become very complex (see some of the screenshots on the website). * The GUI looks like it's supposed to look (i.e. a windows app looks like a windows app, a gnome (linux) app looks like a gnome app, etc.). * Portable support for text pipe interprocess communication * Portable support for network programming * Portable, pollable file streams! Umm, I guess that's all :) So whether you want to use a protocol like winboard that communicates via text pipes, or add support for server play, or any of the things that Winboard/Arena/etc. do, you can probably do it with wxWindows, and it will probably be easier (text pipe IPC in Windows is stupid...tons of lines of code, when it should be one or two like it is in unix, and wxWindows). And on top of all of that, it's all completely portable! >i have many ideas on how to improve that interface - but i think my programming >technique (plain C + win32 API) is simply unsuitable for more complex >interfaces. as an example of what i would like my program to be like, take >anything from arena over chessbase to the visual studio environment - i would >like it to include multiple window panes which can be resized and displayed or >hidden. fancy interfaces also allow docking/undocking and individual window pane >arrangement. my ideal checkers interface does not need to be too fancy, let's >say something like arena with split windows which you can resize and add/remove >panes. > >question: what kind of development tool(s) should i use for such purposes, given >that >(i) i know C but not C++, >(ii) i am over 30 and don't learn things as easily as earlier, >(iii) programming is just a hobby for me, and i don't have large amounts of time >to learn something new, >(iv) i don't develop commercial software, so i don't want to pay large amounts >of money for a development tool. > >so the ideal tool for me is probably easy to learn, easy to use, free, and >somewhere close to C. > >should i... >...forget C and use visual basic? >...learn C++ and use MFC? >...forget about MFC and use WTL? >...forget about MFC and WTL and use .NET? >...forget about all of this and use XYZ? >...forget it all because i'm too old and don't have enough time/energy to learn >something new? > >any opinions are appreciated! > martin
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