Suggestions for development lang, UI framework etc?
Dr Nic Williams
aspect of this project is an IDE-independent UI. Ultimately developers
should be able to do everything from their IDE of choice (assuming
ruby, sqlite3 etc are in their respective paths or folder locations);
but initially, and for the sake of documentation and video tutorials,
a simple UI might be a good thing.
A simple UI could also indicate what 3rd party packages are still
needing to be downloaded + installed (perhaps for size and/or
licensing reasons we might not bundle MySQL); allow users to run/stop
Rails/Rack applications; open them in a browser; open a project in an
editor/IDE; open a project in `cmd`, etc.
Background: InstantRails 2.0 was a VC6 project written in C++.
I personally don't have a big issue with it being a C# project in
VisualStudio 2010 if there is always an Express version that
contributors can download (http://www.microsoft.com/express/Windows/).
Ultimately it might be nice to migrate the code to IronRuby.
If Java is guaranteed to be available on all target machines then it
could be a JRuby-based UI.
But I assume it'll be a simple UI, and using the niceness of VS to
design and wire it up might make incoming contributors feel more at
home. "How do I add a column of action buttons?" "Here's the panel for
each row of the table" etc.
In my mind, the aim is to ensure the maximum number of users of
InstantRails can become contributors and then core contributors to the
project. Part of that is probably just documenting "How to be a
contributor", which I think is a lot more prevalent in OSS in 2010
than it was in 2005.
Thoughts on which development tech choices will make contribution by
part-time developers easier?
Nic
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Dr Nic Williams
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Rob Bazinet
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Luis Lavena
> I think as far as the language, if it is on Windows then a .NET language if
> if a .NET language then C#. If you want developers then we have to use what
> then know and on Windows today it is C#. I tend to doubt JRuby will be any
> easier and draw devs in.
>
> As you say Nic, VS 2010 is free.
If we are heading C# for a GUI for the user, then I would prefer
SharpDevelop instead:
http://www.icsharpcode.net/opensource/sd/
dotNET runtime/libraries are available or already installed in most of
these users.
I believe that will be the only extra required to be installed to
contribute with the GUI changes.
--
Luis Lavena
AREA 17
-
Perfection in design is achieved not when there is nothing more to add,
but rather when there is nothing more to take away.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Dr Nic Williams
--
Rob Bazinet
Dr Nic Williams
then they can be both linked in the Development section of the
README/Wiki.
Luis Lavena
> I am open to SharpDevelop but honestly didn't give the IDE a second thought.
> I know a TON of developers on Windows and I can't think of a single one who
> uses SharpDevelop, they all have VS 2008 or 2010.
There are plenty use dotNET and don't use Visual Studio.
> Is the choice of IDE to target the most used or is it to use something open
> source? If I was on the outside looking in, I don't know if I would be
> involved in a project where I had to setup a different IDE. I mean if it
> wasn't C# maybe, but being on the Windows platform, I just wouldn't expect
> anything but VS.
> Don't get me wrong, I don't care what we use other than the fact we use a
> good tool. I am thinking people will wonder why not VS since it is Windows.
SharpDevelop works and interoperate with Visual Studio solution files.
I would personally will not contribute to any C# development, even
less if I had to install Visual Studio.
Been VS-free for the past 8 years and plan no change that.
Dr Nic Williams
Cool, so there's no IDE requirement.
> I would personally will not contribute to any C# development, ...
VB or F# instead? :)