Tcl or java ? (for platform independent GUI)

[meenakshidhar]

tcl or java ..
i m creating a GUI for some algorithms .. the algorithms r in c++.. should i use tcl or java.. i want to create platform independent GUI..openGL is also an option....plzz tell me which to go for ...openGL , tcl or java ..
meenu

 

[AviaTraining]

In my own rather biased opinion, I'd probably go for Tcl. It's still much easier to create a GUI with Tcl than with Java, even with Swing. And my experience is that GUI performance with Tcl is still much more responsive than with Java.

As for handling your libraries with Tcl, I'd strongly recommend checking out SWIG,

http://www.swig.org,

which can automatically generate the wrapper code needed to expose your library functions as Tcl commands.

Having said that, there's still something to be said for Java. Deployment of your application would probably be easier with Java, especially if you have no idea whether or not the target systems will have Java and/or Tcl already installed. I'd say it's more likely that Java is installed on an average machine than Tcl, and people are more accustomed to the idea of install a Java JRE. Although there are several deployment options for Tcl that don't rely on having Tcl installed already (see

http://mini.net/tcl/855.html),

all of these schemes will be more complicated with the issue of the binary libraries. Of course, that will also complicate deployment of a Java application as well. - Ken Jones, President
Avia Training and Consulting

http://www.avia-training.com

866-TCL-HELP (866-825-4357) US Toll free
415-643-8692 Voice
415-643-8697 Fax

 

[Guest_imported]

I don't like java, but that's only because I have had to
deal with netware apps written in it that just fail to perform in my line of work. I don't have problems like this with tcl, though the errors can be "REALLY" quite painful to watch if the error catching procedures aren't timely and pretty. As a matter of fact, this and the fact that the tk widget set can look a bit dated, are the biggest drawbacks I can see all other things equal.

Having bgerror crap allover the place, visibly, and with
unrestricted verbosity, could kill a project in front of
the wrong reviewers. I've seen it.