LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Toby Corkindale <tjcorkin@steadycom.com.au>
  To  : David Drury <idavid@smug.adelaide.edu.au>
  Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 11:42:40 +1030

Re: VB to Unix conversion.

David,
I think you are wrong when you say that UNIX X applications must be
written in C, inside the app, etc.

Firstly, you don't need to use C. I have various applications written in
GTK for PERL, and there are many other languages with associated X
toolkits, some of which are specifically designed for rapid application
development with a GUI.
Check out perl, tcl/tk, python, etc.
If you're doing really simple tasks, you can even use bash and dialog.

Secondly, I believe there are tools out there (see www.gtk.org ?) which
also allow you to draw your gui interface a-la visual basic, and then
have the neccessary code and resources created for you. (So,  more like
ms visual c++ i guess.)

I did some work with java GUIs at Uni, a couple of years ago, but I
didn't enjoy it much. The Swing toolkit wasn't too bad, but was
painfully large and slow.

However, whatever method you choose to write apps in, you'll still have
to get in a bit deeper than VB would ever have taken you. Once you have
made it, and have discovered the joys of fast, reliable execution with
small compiled object sizes, you probably won't want to go back.

-Toby

David Drury wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> > Sorry all..
> >
> > The word 'executable (ocx)' dropped off of my mail. After 'very large'.
> >
> >
> > Derek
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have a very large written in MS Visual Basic and I would like to minimise
> > the amount of coding I need to do to get it running on a Unix box..
> > Is there any easy way of doing this to minimise the amount of coding
> > needed..
> > I appreciate some coding will be needed but this is a very large program.
> >
> > Destination could be Java, C, etc...
> 
> Unfortunately my final statement still applies I think. VB iws very
> Windows, and language dependent.
> 
> It also depends upon what your application is doing. If it is a bells and
> whistles windowed, GUIed app, translation to any other language would be
> dificult. For Unix, you're either looking at X-Windows or Java I
> tink. X-Windows will require your app being translated into C, but unlike
> VB, you have to draw all your windows and sub-structures in the app,
> rather than in a nice GUI editor.
> I'm less sure on Java, having had minimal contact with the code side. My
> best guess is the situation is very similar, and the only gain would be
> some platform independence with Java.
> 
> An internet search might provide you with some translation tools, but
> they'll only go half way I think.
> 
> cya
> 
> --
> David Drury

-- 
..I started out with nothing...and I still have most of it left

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