Re: looking ahead to 3.6

[John Swensen]

On Feb 14, 2011, at 8:36 AM, Michael Goffioul wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 1:23 PM, John Swensen <address@hidden> wrote:
>> Michael,
>> Since you already took a look at the Window PTY/pipes issue once for GTK+, 
>> would you be willing to take a look at the QT terminal widget at
>> http://qt-apps.org/content/show.php/QTermWidget?content=82832
>> ?
> 
> I can't promise anything, but I'll do what I can. My spare time is
> quite limited, my dev laptop died
> and I'm still in the process of rebuilding an equivalent dev desktop.
> 
> Michael.

So what is the consensus?  Should I give up on GTK+ for OctaveDE and switch to 
QT?  With the QTermWidget, I will cover at least as many platforms as OctaveDE 
currently supports (I guess Windows worked with a lot of arm twisting).  At 
some point, someone (Michael if he finds time) will need to address the 
terminal emulator widget on Windows, but in the meantime the rest of the 
functionality can be developed on other platforms.  The OpenGL issue will 
definitely be easier, cross-platform consistency will be better, I'm not sure 
about the ease of making an editor, but I'm assuming that is a wash.  There can 
probably also be a lot of cross-pollination with QtOctave also.

I see few downsides and many upsides.  What do others think (particularly those 
who make visionary decisions about the future of Octave)?

John Swensen