Re^5: What's it with Perl Syntax ?!

Perl's amazing at eliminating busywork. We find things we commonly do, over and over again, and we reduce it down to three letter function names, or a punctuation mark EXCEPT FOR GRAPHICS and graphical interfaces. Perhaps this is because noone can settle down and decide upon one thing, or because its too hardware dependent, or because it's too tied to a single OS, or maybe it is a complex task that has never been done simply ever--no matter the technology or language-- but at some point, some languages bridged (or are attempting to) this gap--regardless. Perl hasn't. Other languages, like Java or C# have visual tools that enable them to create components, hide the details, and generate sources that Perl doesn't. Perhaps the developers don't even know what their code is doing, because it's all generated, but do you think that matters to them? Probably not much.

For a language that more or less DEFINED automation, I find it regretable that there's no serious visual tools that automate things like gui creation in Perl... but I'm probably just being selfish--cuz I know I'd use such a tool.

Perhaps the problem is that Gui's are too machine dependent--too specific, and Perl's need to do everything 40 different ways (most of which are bad form, or no longer acceptable, btw) fails the closer it gets to hardware. Perhaps we're all such huge fans of GetOpt::Long that we're afraid of hurting commandline interface's feelings... ;)

One thing I do wonder. Suppose that the Perl 6 people decided to create a standard visual control inherent linguistically into Perl6... How long would it take Perl 5 to find a way to make it happen?

Perhaps the reason there's no visual tool for Perl is that Perl's just so darn easy at getting the job done quick and dirty that no one's ever seen the need to make the job any easier.

But I think ultimately we're missing out. We need some fluffy stuff too--some panache' or something to attract the trivial programmers too... because like it or not, they give a language momentum. Sometimes I think Perl's like the smart kid with the personal hygeine problems in the back of the computer lab, who thinks that because we can prove the teacher's no computer expert, we'll get the babes. Ultimately to be relevant mainstream, and thus able to propagate our genetically superior brains through the next generation, we need the whole package, including a few seemingly nonsensical social skills. (Okay that's a stupid painful analogy... I'm going to stop now... before I realize what a loser I am... and go code something in a truly tawdry/socially promiscuous language like C#...)

Comment on Re^5: What's it with Perl Syntax ?!

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Re^6: What's it with Perl Syntax ?! by Anonymous Monk on Feb 17, 2011 at 15:25 UTC
Tk, Tkx, Prima, Gtk2, SDL, Wx, Qt, OpenGL, Win32::GUI, Inline::Inline::Java XUL::Gui, Win32::GUI::XMLBuilder, Gtk2::GladeXML, wxGlade, (GUI) Windows Programming FAQ	[reply]
Re^7: What's it with Perl Syntax ?! by raybies (Chaplain) on Feb 18, 2011 at 13:07 UTC
This response makes my point perfectly.	[reply]
Re^8: What's it with Perl Syntax ?! by Anonymous Monk on Feb 19, 2011 at 01:56 UTC
Except that it doesn't	[reply]
Re^7: What's it with Perl Syntax ?! by luis.roca (Deacon) on Feb 20, 2011 at 21:49 UTC
While these are great, popular tools for creating GUIs and other graphic based pieces, it would be beneficial to see a list of really good work created with them. For example: Are there games being created in PerlSDL that rival some of the better examples out today? I have no doubt it can be done. I would just love to see a few. "...the adversities born of well-placed thoughts should be considered mercies rather than misfortunes." — Don Quixote	[reply]
Re^6: What's it with Perl Syntax ?! by arkturuz (Curate) on Feb 21, 2011 at 12:30 UTC
For a language that more or less DEFINED automation, I find it regretable that there's no serious visual tools that automate things like gui creation in Perl I used The GUI Loft and ZooZ 5 years ago. It's sad they're not updated, they were pretty good tools. OTOH, you can do a lot of good job with just typing the Tk code. You don't need the GUI designer in the most cases, because the tool allows you to be faster with the keyboard than the mouse. For a serious perl-lazy developer like me that means a lot. I can type faster this Tcl code "pack [button .b -text Exit -command Exit] -padx 10 -pady 20" than setting it all by mouse.	[reply]
Re^6: What's it with Perl Syntax ?! by ikegami (Patriarch) on Feb 20, 2011 at 06:41 UTC
One thing I do wonder. Suppose that the Perl 6 people decided to create a standard visual control inherent linguistically into Perl6... How long would it take Perl 5 to find a way to make it happen? Could you please define "inherent linguistically"? I don't know any language that make any accommodations for visual controls. At best, some bundle a library.	[reply]


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