Re: [rgui-dev] project proposal

[Massimiliano Mirra]

On Thu, Dec 12, 2002 at 02:06:50PM +0100, Thorsten Roggendorf wrote:
> But it's probably difficult to interpret the whole power of
> e.g. CORBA interfaces as a GUI. How do you pass three arguments to a
> method (= button) on execution?

GUIs are languages.  Visual, but still languages.  And
domain-specific.

Take for example an address book:

Visual language: User enters `John' in the name field.
Verbal lnaguage: NAME = 'John'

Visual: User enters `555-12345' in the telephone field.
Verbal: PHONE = '555-12345'

Visual: User clicks `Apply' button.
Verbal: save_record(NAME, PHONE)

(Like other languages, you've got an environment to save your
variables to.  That's how you pass three arguments to a method.)

Think of building an application as building a domain-specific
language.  It's easy then to map a widget (or each way of using a
widget) to an instruction of the language.

Throw in some syntax and you're even able to script your app (think of
how shell scripting lets you use Unix commands).

Aaah, the days of Amiga where most apps had ARexx scripting
interfaces... :-)

Massimiliano