Re: Real Widgets and Template Languages

[Kip Hampton]

Gunther Birznieks wrote:

<snip/>

> The design pattern here is that driver specific stuff goes into a
> constructor or config method. But leave the rest of the methods alone. This
> allows you to plug and play the objects.

I like that.

Every time the idea of widgets (small w) comes up, my mind wanders back
to UIML [1]. In a nutshell, UIML tries to define a simple markup syntax
for making device/language-agnostic user interfaces. So, theoretically,
you could build Web, WAP, Tk, etc. applications from the same base
document. It may be worth another look in this context.

I'm not suggesting, BTW, that Widget::* stuff should be based on UIML
(or any other ML du jour) only that it's a bit of prior art relevant to
building client/device-neutral UIs that we might be able to borrow from.

-kip

[1] http://www.uiml.org/specs/uiml2/index.htm
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