[Pythoncard-users] the future direction of PythonCard

[Kevin A. <al...@se...>]

We're approaching the four month mark since the start of the PythonCard
mailing list. This seems like a good time to evaluate where the project
currently stands, whether we're on track, and what direction we should head
in the future. Even the lurkers out there should respond in some fashion to
this message if they're interested in the future direction of PythonCard.

Issues in no particular order:

Is anyone using the current prototype? We've had a reasonable number of
downloads, but the list is very quiet. The apps I know about are the samples
included with each release, some experiments of my own and Simon's blogger
app. I'm probably forgetting something. Ron posted some source to the list
and I'm assuming he is still experimenting with PythonCard. Is anyone else
playing with PythonCard?

Based on the current samples, is the current framework too complex or too
limiting or just right?

What elements need to be added to the current framework before you would use
PythonCard for your own work?

Is the most important thing having an environment like HyperCard?

Project Roles
The last update to the roles list was on July 12th, so it is out-of-date
http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/Message/676720
At this point, I'm doing most of the work on the framework and samples.
Patrick is working on PyCrust, which we use for our shell and namespace
viewer. Andy is still active, but not on the framework. Both Neil and Robin
answer questions, but otherwise are not currently involved in PythonCard
code. Rowland is not active either, though we owe a debt to him for the
original framework, ideas, etc. Rowland and I mostly chat about PythonCard
outside the list. Roman helped start the distutils work, but Andy took that
over. There have been a few people offering to get involved, but real life,
work, etc. has overridden most of the good intentions. There is a limited
amount we can accomplish without more developers. This will have an impact
on the scope of the project, so if you're interested in a particular area
please speak up.

Documentation
Suggestions for getting some docs done? Anything in particular you want in
terms of documentation?

The project name
Is everyone happy with the name PythonCard? I wouldn't bring this up except
that recently I learned a number of people had never even bothered to look
at PythonCard because of the implied similarity to HyperCard. There are a
lot of people out there that have never used a Mac and even if they have, a
lot of people never liked HyperCard and considered it a toy for building
apps. On the other hand, a lot of HyperCard users expect PythonCard to
provide a complete environment, so the name doesn't reflect so much what we
have today, but what we hope to achieve. It doesn't help that wxPython
doesn't run on the Mac yet.

Should we move beyond the prototype and make the next major release an alpha
version of the real framework?

How thin should the framework layer be over wxPython? That's a loaded
question. The implication is that we will only be able to achieve our goals
with wxPython instead of alternative GUI toolkits for Python. That may or
may not be true. What do we want to achieve with our framework sitting on
top of wxPython that wxPython doesn't provide?

What parts of the framework are most important to you? Some possibilities:
  Layout descriptions in resource files
  Automatic widget creation and event binding
  Dot notation for widgets and other framework items
  on_widget_event style handlers
  runtime tools such as the shell, message watcher, property editor

Are the samples useful?

What do you want PythonCard to be?

I definitely pushed PythonCard in the direction I thought it should go back
in July and I'm going to continue to pursue PythonCard in some form, but it
may be time to revise some of the original goals. I'll give other people a
chance to respond before stating some of my own preferences.

This is an open-ended post, so feel free to bring up any topic you think
relates to the current state of PythonCard or its future even if I didn't
touch on the topic above.

ka
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Kevin Altis
al...@se...