Continue to Site

Welcome to EDAboard.com

Welcome to our site! EDAboard.com is an international Electronics Discussion Forum focused on EDA software, circuits, schematics, books, theory, papers, asic, pld, 8051, DSP, Network, RF, Analog Design, PCB, Service Manuals... and a whole lot more! To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

Register Log in

What are you using for fast GUI development?

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

CMOS

Advanced Member level 3
Advanced Member level 3
Joined
Jan 6, 2004
Messages
862
Helped
94
Reputation
186
Reaction score
50
Trophy points
1,308
Location
USA
Activity points
5,673
GUI Development

I wonder what you people out there are using for fast GUI development?
Currently I am using VB6.0 to write all my programs just because it is a "TRUE" RAD tool. However I am not satisfied with its performance in terms of speed and lack of power like that of C.

I currently found WxWidgets and QT4. Seems nice but still haven't tried them.

Is there any other tool powerful like C and and RAD capabilities like VB? What are you people using?
 

Re: GUI Development

Hi,
Currently I'm using Eiffel to do most of my programming. It is a purely object orientated language and by using the GUI builder a simple / quick solution is atainable. Also I like it especially as it is cross platform and the fact that it can use C / C++ libraries directly is an added bonus.

For more information see
Code: 
http://www.eiffel.com

P.S.: I also use VB.Net and Delphi but rarely use VC++ as the MFC method is cumbersome. VB is great for writing disposable code

Cheers
Slayer[/b]
 

Re: GUI Development

I had tried using VC++ but I agree to you, its a mess. Event handling is painful in it.
Even I don't like .NET as the programs require around 22MB of dependencies to run! Plus .NET exe's are not pure exe's but managed code which compiles at runtime just like java, slowing down the performance. Why dont these people want to make standalone exe's???

I'll give Eiffel a try! Does it produce standalone exe's or require glue dll's like MSVBVM60.dll for VB6? And does it have visual form editor?
 

Re: GUI Development

Yes it does have a visual builder and then you just patch in the relevant code where it needs to go.

As for the EXE question the code you write in eiffel is interpreted into C which is then compiled (by free Borland C++ compiler) into the relevant executable on either MAC, Windows, or Linux.

Obvously there is a learning curve but I have managed to become quire proffisiont in about only 1 weeks worth of evenings.

Cheers
Slayer
 

GUI Development

Download C# express from Microsoft, a free download. C# is a modern typesafe language written by the same guy who wrote Delphi.
C# tries to use the best bits of c, c++, java, perl, delphi and leave out the crap of them all.
 

GUI Development

Did you try java ? Yes it is performance is not as of native code. but good software portability across platforms .
 

Re: GUI Development

I also like Jave to some degree and yes it has its applications. However the "new" C# seems to me as if it was just hacked together from some other languages / styles. Personaly I like to have some stability in the tools I use, and since C# is mainly supported by M$ it will propably change every 2 years or so depending on the state of things @ M$.

Cheers
Slayer
 

Re: GUI Development

OK, so maybe C# is not hacked together but the mere fact that MS is the main $$ behind the development means that it is still going to be a volatile language like VB has become. Jsut my 2c

Cheers
Slayer
 

Re: GUI Development

I'm affraid you won't get exact answer. It depends on many factors like your skills, company strategy, a project structure, etc.
VB might be no. 1 for somebody and totally unacceptable for the other.
For example I use Java for building a GUI (using Swing) and for most of the desktop and server job. For some projects I prefer C++ and our company leading OS is Linux. But thanks to Java we can provide almost the same code for Linux and for Windows.
 

Re: GUI Development

Beeblebrox said:
I'm affraid you won't get exact answer. It depends on many factors like your skills, company strategy, a project structure, etc.
VB might be no. 1 for somebody and totally unacceptable for the other.
For example I use Java for building a GUI (using Swing) and for most of the desktop and server job. For some projects I prefer C++ and our company leading OS is Linux. But thanks to Java we can provide almost the same code for Linux and for Windows.
Click to expand...
Well development time is the main factor out here. Second comes effeciency and power of the language. The main reason we don't prefer Java is because of high development time especially when you are developing GUIs.
 

Re: GUI Development

If you're comfortable writing in VB, you'll be happy with C#. Designing a GUI in C# has the look and feel of VB. Any VB programmer can have a C# GUI running in 5 minutes.

Everyone defends the language they use for the most part. Others are emotional or cavalier about giving advice - like it's hacked together or volatile. If you're truly selecting the language based on development time and your programming team knows C/C++ then C# is the hands-down winner.

Aside from easy GUI design, C# has many cool things built in, from the usual stuff like dialogs for files, directory searching, file watching, printing, colors, fonts, etc. It also has easy and automatic data grids, menus, tool bars/tips, process (for spawning other apps), calendar, easy to use tabs, easy threads, etc. And that's just the default tool box. There is another group of features, from .NET and COM that offer all kinds of services from TAPI (telephone API), SAPI (Speech API - speaks from text with 2 lines of code), Flash (drop your flash movie onto your GUI!), and many, many more.

Some other considerations:
C# Express is currently free and so is .NET.
Much shorter learning curve if you know C or C++
There are many C# - specific tutorials on the web for anything you want to do, I never use help (F1) anymore.
Probably better for your resume that Java or some of the other ones. (How many jobs do you see for Eiffel, for example compared to C#?).
C# has managed memory a little like VB so, for the most part you don't have to worry about crashing with an errant pointer like in C/C++.
C# lets you use unmanaged code (like a C++ component) if needed.
I think the stability of C# is no worse than any other language, it just has higher visibility and emotional responses. Since it is widely used, bugs and work-arounds are generally well-known. I have yet to see a high-level language that doesn't have some major problem that takes an inordinate amount of time to find or work around.

As far as .NET being slower?
"Ask anyone the question above and they will say that managed is slower than unmanaged code. Are they right? No they are not. The problem is that when most people think of .NET they think of other frameworks with a runtime, like Java or Visual Basic; or they may even think about interpreters. They do not think about applications, or what they do; they do not think about limiting factors like network or disk access; in short, they do not think. "

".NET is not like those frameworks. It has been well though out and Microsoft has put a lot of effort in making it work well. In this article I will present some code that performs some computationally intensive operation and I will compile it as both managed C++ and unmanaged C++. Then I will measure how each of these libraries perform. As you will see, .NET is not automatically much slower than unmanaged code, indeed, in some cases it is much faster."

"There is nothing in .NET that means that it should automatically be much slower than native code, indeed, as these results have shown there are cases when managed code is quicker than unmanaged code. Anyone who tells you that .NET should be slower has not thought through the issues." from: h**p://www.grimes.demon.co.uk/dotnet/man_unman.htm

The baggage that comes with C# is that you must have the .NET framework installed. I know that many are instantly offended and turned off by this and by MS too, but it's best to just look at the facts. First, Windows XP automatically installs .NET and it's easy to upgrade if you need to. If you're writing shrink-wrap software for example, Visual Studio will generate the entire installation setup for you (called Publish). If you're writing for inhouse or deliverable hardware then you don't need to worry about installation so much.

I just finished a major project in C# and it was fun and fast. I will resist going back to VC++ or VB again.
 

Re: GUI Development

Beeblebrox said:
Java GUI development is a time consuming job ? Funny...:
Click to expand...
I guess you have not worked on VB and thats why you are saying that. Java is not considered as RAD language.
 

Re: GUI Development

Well, I've been using VB6 comfortably but for applications where persistence and reliability is important , I would use QT and program in C on UNIX. If you havent tried it yet, believe me it is easier than it looks, there are some hassles but if you have the time it turns out to be pretty good.
 

Re: GUI Development

Like I said VB is nice to write quick and simple code, very well suited to GUI development. BUT the fact that MS can change their mind tomorrow and change the standard makes it a little volatile for larger projects.

Delphi has remained largely the same over the years and if you know VB it won't take long to pick up.

Cheers
Slayer
 

GUI Development

Im into C#, it's so cool!
The .net CLR is OS independant, it can run on any platform. Doesn't have to be M$Widows. At last count it supported 65,000 function calls?
Anders Hejlsberg, chief architect of C#, was the guy who wrote Borland Turbo Pascal, the first realy cool IDE for software developement, he then went on to create Delphi, the most productive commercial product ever! This guy is a language guru, C# has all the good bits and none of the crap.
Multiple choise question.
How many windows in Bill Gates House?
1, 95
2, 98
3, 2000
What does he use on his windows?
1, Curtains
2, Blinds
3, .Net
 

GUI Development

mehboob_iiui's suggestion seems good.
At last , there is vmware - run whatever you need on whatever you have.

P.S. No M$ , no heroin.)
 

Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Part and Inventory Search

Welcome to EDABoard.com

Sponsor

Back
Top