Reitter: Answering the question: "How do I develop an app for GNOME?" [LWN.net]

Reitter: Answering the question: "How do I develop an app for GNOME?"

Posted Feb 5, 2013 17:27 UTC (Tue) by raven667 (subscriber, #5198)
In reply to: Reitter: Answering the question: "How do I develop an app for GNOME?" by heijo
Parent article: Reitter: Answering the question: "How do I develop an app for GNOME?"

That has been tried and while HTML+JS makes for a good rapid app development environment, especially when the back end of the app is a remote service, for more complex local apps developers and users prefer a native widget toolkit. HTML is a little clunky, native widgets have more rich interfaces, lower latency and better integration with system services.

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Reitter: Answering the question: "How do I develop an app for GNOME?"

Posted Feb 5, 2013 17:38 UTC (Tue) by FranTaylor (guest, #80190) [Link]

Why is it that Qt is migrating away from widget-style development and toward layout-based development? Because it makes for better application design, it does a better job of abstracting the user environment from the program. Layout based applications can run unmodified in all three of today's user interface environments: desktop, mobile, and web.

Reitter: Answering the question: "How do I develop an app for GNOME?"

Posted Feb 5, 2013 17:57 UTC (Tue) by aseigo (guest, #18394) [Link]

QML is ~nothing like HTML+CSS. With QML we are getting the best of both worlds: fast development, platform independent code, JS and web-friendly technologies as with HTML5; but also the power and richness of native apps (via Qt Components).

QML's declarative model is also rather different (and more sane) than HTML+CSS. It's what the web-for-apps should be imo: designed for the developer and for performance without sacrifice.

So I wouldn't personally use QML as supporting evidence for HTML. :) For the power of the declarative model and to see how Javascript can be used as part of complex application development without making you want to pluck your eyes out (or retreating into the arms of a toolkit-on-top-of-the-language-that-is-running-in-a-toolkit..), yes ...

Reitter: Answering the question: "How do I develop an app for GNOME?"

Posted Feb 6, 2013 0:11 UTC (Wed) by FranTaylor (guest, #80190) [Link]

So you agree with me that widget-based development is obsolete, this is the point I was driving at. It's basically unchanged technology since "Dan Bricklin's Demo Program" and "EA Pinball Construction Set" from the 1980s.