Questions about Rev/Transcript vs. other toolkits

[Alex Tweedly]

At 23:04 10/08/2004 -0400, Kevin Walzer wrote:

>However, because Rev, unlike the other languages and toolkits I'm
>looking at, is a commercial toolkit and would represent a fairly
>substantial investment on my part for what is a hobby (as opposed to a
>professional investment), I'm wondering if some of the more seasoned
>developers on this list would mind answering a few questions:

I'm also a hobbyist rather than a professional user, so I'll specifically 
answer this part. Even when you're doing something you enjoy, your time has 
value. Being more productive will enable you to do more. So IMHO the direct 
cost of RR is insignificant compared to the indirect cost in lower 
productivity of most other software development environments. 
Python/wxPython is the only other environment which I find approximates the 
productivity of RR (better for some things, not so good for others);  even 
it has a high cost when you include the learning time. (I suspect that your 
Applescript background will make your learning curve in RR shorter than 
your Python one).

>3. How does Rev compare specifically to other scripting languages,
>especially Tcl/Tk and Python/wxPython? I'm studying Tcl/Tk out of a
>slightly contrarian nature, as I know the GUI's that can be built with
>Tk are more limited; wxPython, by contrast, is very rich. Can anyone
>with experience with either of these development environments offer some
>insight about how they compare to Rev?

I'd skip Tcl/Tk - it's very limited compared to the other two, and just not 
fun.

Python/wxPython (and Pythoncard) has a lot of strengths compared to RR, and 
just about as many weaknesses :-)

RR can do almost anything - but it excels in some areas while it "can do" 
others. I see RR as particularly strong in text handling, imaging, sound, 
multimedia (other on the list might disagree because they are experienced 
in other tools in that area, where I'm not).

P/wxP is strong in text handling, simple graphics, Internet protocols. It 
has strong "traditional" data structuring features - which I think help to 
make programs in it maintainable.

wxP has a richer set of tools (e.g. wxGrid is about 3 generations better 
than RR's table control), but RR has unequalled ability to put them 
together to get what you want.

I have to say I'm an enthusiastic user of both, so I'm biased :-)


>I appreciate any advice anyone can give me!

Learn both. Use both. Choose which one to use for each project (based 
partly on how much you've learned about each). Do some projects in both 
(either in parallel, or by "porting" a completed one). Use the knowledge 
you gained in one to increase your skillset / toolset to make you more 
productive in both.

-- Alex Tweedly.