RE: [Pythoncard-users] Boa as an IDE for PythonCard?

[Patrick K. O'B. <po...@or...>]

Riaan, the primary Boa developer, has indicated that it would be quite
possible for Boa to work with some kind of resource file, rather than
generating all the code directly. He says the framework is not as
specialized as most people think it is. The Zope interaction is an example
of how the framework can support other development modes. I haven't delved
into the details enough to express my own opinion.

As far as the code generation part goes, there is a clear boundary between
the generated methods that Boa "owns" and the custom coded methods that you
own. As long as you don't try to modify the generated methods there is no
problem. That is the nature of a code generator. Boa should have enough
hooks to let you add whatever behavior your need without risk of
modification by the code generator. If not, complain to Riaan. He is
incredibly responsive to user demands, imo.

That said, I know Kevin in none too fond of code generators in general, and
I respect his point of view. Anything that generates code has its strengths
and its weaknesses. At the same time, it is quite possible the we will see
the day when some of these same complaints are levied against the PythonCard
Resource Editor (or whatever it evolves into). <wink>

---
Patrick K. O'Brien
Orbtech (http://www.orbtech.com)
"I am, therefore I think."

-----Original Message-----
From: pyt...@li...
[mailto:pyt...@li...]On Behalf Of Steven D.
Arnold
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 8:59 PM
To: Kevin Altis
Cc: pythoncard-Users; riaan@e.co.za
Subject: Re: [Pythoncard-users] Boa as an IDE for PythonCard?

<license stuff snipped>

On another note, I don't really like Riann's approach of using Python
code itself to generate interfaces.  It seems a lot more general to
use some flavor of XML to describe interfaces, and sharply distinguish
this from the user code.  This kind of separation/abstraction allows
one to easily modify the way interface elements work in one's code
without worrying about the IDE overwriting one's changes or making
other undesirable changes.  To put the policy in a sentence: anything
that is automatically generated by the IDE should not be modified by
the user (this would no doubt include the final code/binary as well as
interface template files).

Has anyone else experienced this kind of issue with Boa (or maybe
found a workaround that obviates it as a problem)?

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Steven D. Arnold                                  st...@ne...
AIM: abraxan                                               ICQ: 73804392
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