> > > - A very basic (and BASIC-like) scripting language (read absorbance, > > > spectra, file IO, move to a cuvette etc.) > > > > There are several free scripting languages with support for being > > embedded in a C program. My favorite is Python. > > > > In fact if it were my I'd probably write all of that in Python.
I definately second that. I have a similar scenario where I am starting a project that will be a gui, involves some plotting, and I want to run on linux and likely other OSes. I've done a fair amount of background research (read: dragging my feet) and it is apparent that python is a very good option. I think that at this point computer technology, it is a shame to invest your hard work and time in something that is tied to a particular OS, and python has the advantage of being fairly easy to make cross-platform. > matplotlib is a good way to go if you go with python. That, and for other gui stuff, wxpython may be of interest, although there may be good reason to go with gtk or other toolkits. Python is an 'interpreted' language, though it can be 'compiled' too. The tendancy is to assume this means it is slow, but its actually very nice and responsive. An awesome way to check out some of the capabilities is to run the demo found in the wx2.5-examples package. Do it! :-) Good luck, JDR
