A way to activate our efforts / open multimedia standards / Re: Developers tools?

[Roman Suzi <rnd@sampo.karelia.ru>]

On Sun, 6 Dec 1998, Micah Yoder wrote:

>> But these programs (except for MetaCard) aren't  very  easy  to
>> use for fast prototyping visual interface. (I am comparing with
>> HyperCard)
>
>I hate to say it, but I don't think anything else exists.  Everywhere I
>look, I see people BEGGING for Delphi or C++Builder to be ported to
>Linux.  Makes me wonder why Borland is so blind.
>
>This is an ESSENTIAL area to get into eventually.  Glade and Visual TCL
>definitely hold promise.  SpecTCL looks pretty good.  I played with it a
>bit, but never really learned it.  Having had the unfortunate experience
>of having to use Visual Basic at work, I can say that it really is an
>infinitely easier way of making interfaces than writing a lot of code. 
>So far, nothing for Linux compares.  The first project that succeeds is
>going to be famous.  (Or rich, if it's a commercial product.)  I'd glady
>fork out $300 right now for a Perl/TK builder that was as easy to use as
>VB.

And yes,  needless  to  say,  these  tools  better  not  create
bloatware monsters! Once I tried a Borland C++ 4.5 on  PC  Plus
SuperCD to  make  a  simple  menu  program  (which  did  almost
nothing).

It was a shock when I saw 1 Mb exe-file!!!

IMHO, object-oriented programming needs to  be  revised  a  lot
with new ideas and implementations.

I don't like to see any bloatware for  Linux!  Yes,  multimedia
programs   are   huge.   But   this   must   be   because    of
video/audio/photo data they manage, not the  bloatness  of  the
code.

As somebody (here or in some other forum?) stated,  we  need  a
whole bunch of open standards for multimedia and data (text,SS,DB)
storage,
like we have open standards for internet protocols.

This is why there is no good multimedia for Linux: industry  is
happy about proprietary QuickTime  (tm-Apple),  InternetExpoler
(tm-m$) etc. And there are no open equivalents!

This is why education is  not  open  source  oriented  and  our
efforts are slipping due to lack of OSS tools.

For example, I'd like to make something at leisure  to  provide
to the pool of Linux edu-ware.

But I can't  afford  learning  Gtk  toolkit  or  struggle  with
VisualTcl! I need something small and successful  at  first  to
have enough satisfaction for a larger step.

Is there any area where _quickies_ are possible?

I mean, do we have 10-20 man-hour project list which  could  be
done with pleasure and satisfaction with VisualTcl for example?

May be we can raise practical activity by doing a lot of  small
non-ambitious projects, which we can then present on  a  web  -
and the eduware web-page will not look empty!

OTOH, these  "quickies"  could  distract  efforts  from  larger
projects... But I think there we win more than lose.

Summary: its very hard to decide  to  participate  in  a  large
eduware project due to lack of tools for  quiality  multimedia.
Could we instead make a lot little things ("quickies"), so  the
list of accomplishements will not look empty and  attract  more
people, more developers, more clients with their  wishes?  (and
at the same time we will start to get satisfaction early?)

Can somebody from this list (better NOT developers  themselves)
provide ideas for small projects, that is programs, which could
be made by professional programmers at leasure or by  beginners
with equal (and quick) satisfaction?


Sincerely yours,
Roman A. Suzi

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