Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!hsdndev!spdcc!tauxersvilli!alphalpha!nazgul
From: nazgul@alphalpha.com (Kee Hinckley)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Help on Motif builders
Message-ID: <1990Dec27.154737.23188@alphalpha.com>
Date: 27 Dec 90 15:47:37 GMT
References: <9012262204.AA01041@gh.sei.cmu.edu>
Organization: asi
Lines: 36

In article <9012262204.AA01041@gh.sei.cmu.edu> Erik.Hardy@SEI.CMU.EDU writes:
>Simply put, Serpent requires no knowledge of X or Motif to use it, i.e., it
>requires no coding of Motif or X; you still have to know what attributes you
>want to set for a particular Motif widget. If you want more information
>about Serpent, write me.

All you've done is transfer the work to another area.  If someone has already
done the particular task you need to have done, then you don't have to
worry about it (but that's true if I write my interface in C too, although
Serpent's structure probably encourages reusable code).  On the other hand,
if the operation I need *hasn't* been done by someone, I not only have to
learn how to do it in Motif, I need to learn how to write the Serpent code
*too*.  Tanstaafl.

I have a Selection Dialog that lets you change the name of a folder.
Anytime I create it, I want to set the typein focus to the input area
(it starts off on the Okay button) and select the current foldername.
Seems reasonable.  Do I need to learn Motif to do it?  Yes.  Do I need
to learn Xt to do it?  Yes.  Can I do it in Serpent?  Almost certainly,
but I'm still going to have to learn Motif/Xt in order to do it the
first time.  From then on I can presumbably just use the Serpent interface
that I wrote.  Is it worth it to use Serpent?  Perhaps.  UIMS' like
Serpent and Open Dialogue have advantages, they can make some things
easier.  They can also make some things harder.  If you think the advantages
outweigh the disadvantages then go for it.  But the ride's free only where
the road has already been paved.

						-kee
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I'm not sure which upsets me more; that people are so unwilling to accept
responsibility for their own actions, or that they are so eager to regulate
everyone else's.