This series of articles is specially written for newbie programmers using Gnome and GNU/Linux. Python, the chosen language for development, avoids the usual overhead of compiled languages like C. Read it at LinuxFocus.org. Previous articles in the series: first article, second article.
Developing Applications for Gnome with Python, Part 3
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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What is the “usual overhead” associated with compiled languages?
> What is the “usual overhead” associated with compiled languages?
Decreased memory usage, faster execution time, etc. You’ve got to really watch out for the Intel compiler because it has been known to increase speed dramatically in certain cases.
My guess would be that he means things like longer development cycles, greater program complexity, slower fix cycle because of the compilation step… things that are all generally true of C-like compiled languages as opposed to most scripting languages.
That is, I think he means development-related overhead as opposed to runtime overhead like you’re talking about. I don’t mean that as a slam against C, but you can usually write code faster in a scripting language, though your program may run much slower.
Anyway, I thought this was an interesting article and I’m crossing my fingers that it won’t trigger another retarded language war.
for writing small apps like a samba confiurator or a printcap configurator….apps that manipulate text config files. I would not use python to write a word processor, but it has its uses for small programs. it is also cheaper to make industrial strength programs since all the tools are free and will run native on all platforms (unlike GCC wich needs unix libs to run)
it is also a highly readable syntax as it uses white space as a part of that syntax.
What is the “usual overhead” associated with compiled languages?
headaches and lack of power
I have to say I really like the idea of dynamically created user interfaces using libglade. I just noticed that it’s possible to edit the UIs of many GNOME app dialogs, and the changes are immediately loaded without recompilation. This is great for companies that often need very specific UI customizations, and Glade is very easy to use even for complete newbies.
Out of curiosity, is there anything equivalent on Windows, perhaps as part of Visual Studio?
Well, AFAIK, there’s nothing apart of MS’s VisualStudio for this, at least not in texual GUI resource files. Does Win32 store it’s GUIs as binary resources and then compile it into the .EXE? There may be a way to keep it outside of the EXE loading it at will…..
Otherwise, you can use GTK+ and Glade on Windows.
Does Win32 store it’s GUIs as binary resources and then compile it into the .EXE? There may be a way to keep it outside of the EXE loading it at will…..
you can compile your win32 resources into a DLL and load it from that later
Can wxWindows be used under Gnome? If so why would you want to use anything else? Not a flame I’m just kinda curious. Is libglade crossplatform?