Excellent questions. I'll attempt to answer them but as I said in my review: I consider myself a rank beginner with Perl/Tk. Having made that clear, unfortunately, the answer is: It depends . . .

My experience. I've only used Perl/Tk in about 5 programs, all prior to receiving this book. I haven't programmed any new Perl/Tk since receiving it. I've flipped through the entire book, examined the available features and examples and have come to the conclusion that yes, based on what I've seen/read, I can develop applications with a professional look/feel.

Now, you may not necessarily agree with what I consider having a professional look/feel means. There are some crappy looking examples in this book, just as Nancy Walsh's previous book Learning Perl/Tk was full of crappy looking examples. Keep in mind that the purpose of most of these examples are not to imitate a VB look, but to illustrate basic ways to vary the appearance of Perl/Tk widgets. OTOH, there are some very nice examples in the new book. My experience so far with Perl/Tk have taught me that the fewer options/attributes you take advantage of, the crappier your results will look.

I think using Perl/Tk is alot like using HTML to build a web page. The simpler your HTML, the crappier it will look. If you have a well developed feel/talent for graphical design and/or layout your chances for ending up with a professional look/feel will be significantly higher than if you don't. I developed a Web Calendar application for my University and my intitial pages were very crude and simple looking. At that point, I turned the application over to a Graphics Design Artist in Web Services. The results were amazing, and beyond my capabilities. Sure, I could've come up with something sparse, sleek, and functional (I do think of myself as artistic, just not in a desktop publishing way), but I would've never come up with what she did. Having seen what she's done, I could emulate her and come up with a similar look. But I ramble.

I believe that all of the necessary tools are there, whether or not you attain your goal depends on your will, talent, and ability to use them. It takes a good deal of effort to create apps with a Windows look. Perl/Tk is not Visual Basic.

I suggest that you visit a major bookstore near you and browse through a copy of the book. Especially check out Appendix C: Complete Program Listings. Each program references a figure/chapter to check out. If you see a look/feel you like, check out the code that produces it.

--Jim

In reply to Re: Re: Mastering Perl/Tk by jlongino
in thread Mastering Perl/Tk by jlongino

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