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MorphicDesigner and Maui (was MorphicDesigner (was Re: [squeak-dev] Installer/metacello/squeak4.5 issue due to change of gemstone to gemtalksystems))

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Casey Ransberger-2

MorphicDesigner and Maui (was MorphicDesigner (was Re: [squeak-dev] Installer/metacello/squeak4.5 issue due to change of gemstone to gemtalksystems))

It (MD) has a spreadsheet style view right? That alone seems to suggest that it's worth supporting in my view if we have anyone around to do it... the spreadsheet is the most broadly recognizable and intuitive programming metaphor I've seen (lots of people who use them don't even realize they're programming, etc.)

FWIW, when I tried checking it out, it either didn't work in Squeak or I was missing something about how to use it.

WRT Maui: the ST-80 inspector is nice, but I think there's a lot more it could do. Maui is worth looking at, whether we integrate parts of it, or pillage it for its excellent ideas. One of the things on my longer term list is to bring something like Maui to Cuis, so I might be compelled to contribute here once I've got how-I'm-paying-rent nailed down.

On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 3:14 PM, tim Rowledge <[hidden email]> wrote:

So around a month ago I reported problems when trying to load the MorphicDesigner
(https://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hirschfeld/trac/SqueakCommunityProjects/wiki/designer) project. I tried it again this morning and aside from the rather long and windy process of installing metacello and then morphicdesigner it all went well.

MD is quite interesting. It's a kinda-traditional UI builder, in contrast to Chris Muller's 'Maui' project for example, but has some nice touches. There are quite a few extra classes loaded as part of the install and I have no idea right now if they're actually essential or not - is an animation framework really required for such a tool? It's quite a nice framework though…

I wish I had time to really dig into both this and Maui, but since I don't I want to wave the flag a bit to see if someone else can be Tom Sawyered into evaluating them. Perhaps there are synergies that might encourage us to use a bit of both? Should we work towards making sure such a tool is fully supported as a standard item for Squeak?

tim
--
tim Rowledge; [hidden email]; http://www.rowledge.org/tim
Klingon Code Warrior:- 1) "Behold, the keyboard of Kalis! The greatest Klingon code warrior that ever lived!"

timrowledge

Re: MorphicDesigner and Maui (was MorphicDesigner (was Re: [squeak-dev] Installer/metacello/squeak4.5 issue due to change of gemstone to gemtalksystems))

On 18-09-2013, at 7:33 PM, Casey Ransberger <[hidden email]> wrote:

> It (MD) has a spreadsheet style view right?

Hmm, not sure I'd describe it that way. A blank sheet of.. screen? .. with the ability to use table or proportional or 'put it there' layout style. On the right you get a sorta-inspector of the selected morph.
>
>
> FWIW, when I tried checking it out, it either didn't work in Squeak or I was missing something about how to use it.

Try watching the four videos linked by the project page; they make some sense, though more would be nice. I get the impression it wasn't quite finished. I noticed some visual flickering that implies some over-enthusiastic updating for example. I suspect it could be improved to make it simpler still to use.

>
> WRT Maui: the ST-80 inspector is nice, but I think there's a lot more it could do. Maui is worth looking at, whether we integrate parts of it, or pillage it for its excellent ideas.

I very much like the live-build idea in Maui - I did a faintly similar thing at ParcPlace when we were inventing LearningWorks but the graphics back then really didn't support the concept terribly well.

I think both ways of doing things have their benefits and it would be nice to be able to use either or both in combination.

> One of the things on my longer term list is to bring something like Maui to Cuis, so I might be compelled to contribute here once I've got how-I'm-paying-rent nailed down.
Ah, that stuff. Been there too. Good luck.

tim
--
tim Rowledge; [hidden email]; http://www.rowledge.org/tim
Never trust a computer you can't lift.