Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!inkwell!ivan!jhc
From: jhc@ivan.uucp (James H. Coombs)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x.motif
Subject: Re: UIL vs. C code
Keywords: UIL motif C
Message-ID: <54461@inkwell.UUCP>
Date: 4 Jun 91 14:27:14 GMT
References: <1991May30.160724.12989@infonode.ingr.com> <1991May31.165653.23064@auto-trol.com> <connolly.675977637@convex.convex.com>
Sender: root@inkwell.UUCP
Reply-To: jhc@ivan.UUCP (James H. Coombs)
Organization: IRIS - Brown University
Lines: 38

In article <connolly.675977637@convex.convex.com> connolly@convex.com (Dan Connolly) writes:
>In <1991May31.165653.23064@auto-trol.com> marbru@auto-trol.com (Martin Brunecky) writes:
>
>>In article <1991May30.160724.12989@infonode.ingr.com> doyle@doyled.b23b.ingr.com writes:
>>>I am interested in obtaining some objective data about the performance
>>>of Motif 1.1.* UIL (uid) relative to equivalent functionality 
>>>implemented in C.
>>>
>>>    7) anything else that's important
>>        Look at Wcl (look at FAQ list for more).
>>        Using UIL is BAD, the only thing even worse is doing it in "C"....
>
>I'd like to second this piece of advice. These interface languages are
>all about increasing productivity, no? Wcl does. UIL doesn't. That's all
>I've got to say.

In my experience, UIL does increase productivity.  In fact, we have an
interface designer who has shifted from designing exhaustively in a
structured graphics editor to writing the UIL herself.  This gives her
the ability to fine tune the design in the presentation medium.  It
also means that software engineers don't have to do the work of
converting a design into an implementation, and that eliminates some of
the inevitable conflicts between a programmer's ideas and the designers
ideas.  And, of course, we can quickly modify an interface just by
changing the UIL, which is a lot safer to work with and a lot faster to
compile.  We can even try out alternative interfaces from the same
executable.

These are all big wins.  I have looked at Wcl.  Last I checked, it was
not vendor supported.  There may be better tools than UIL, but UIL is
definitely better than coding the interface in C or C++ (yes, we use
C++ with UIL).  I should also stress that UIL is not difficult to work
with (although you may need an expert to work through the documentation
and then teach everyone else how to use it).  We even have a
non-programmer who can design and implement a complete interface with
UIL.

--Jim