I think the main reason you find Tk unperlish is because it isn't actually perl - it is TCL, and perl/Tk is Nick Ing-Simmons' valiant attempt to make the whole of Tk (a large, complex, and entirely TCL-centric library) available to the perl user. I have had very similar reactions to you when using perl/Tk to implement a simple GUI application, enough to put me off trying anything more complex.

I'm not sure why no-one has designed a more perlish programming library for GUIs, but I suspect it is because coming up with a good abstraction for GUIs is hard, and writing the low-level implementation is hard, and finding someone with the right expertise in those two independent domains is inevitably harder still.

If you are considering dragonchild's suggestion, I'd look particularly at the case of perl6 - an exception to prove several rules. It is rare in the open-source world for a well-qualified implementer to volunteer for a project already designed by someone else, as Patrick Michaud has done - most times someone that comes up with a design is ignored unless they also come up with at least a proof-of-concept as implementation.

Look also at the design process: comments were invited far and wide, then Larry went away and did the real design, then some discussion resulted in relatively minor changes to the design. What this is not is design by committee - that only gets you a camel if it was really a horse you needed.

Hugo

In reply to Re: Is there a really perlish user interface module, or something? by hv
in thread Is there a really perlish user interface module, or something? by Shenpen

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