Everything good about Python except GUI IDE?

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sun, 28 Feb 2016 11:38 pm, BartC wrote:

> On 28/02/2016 06:34, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> 
>> GUI elements are by definition graphical in nature, and like other
>> graphical elements, manipulation by hand is superior to command-based
>> manipulation. Graphical interfaces for manipulating graphics have won the
>> UI war so effectively that some people have forgotten there ever was a
>> war. Can you imagine using Photoshop without drag and drop?
>>
>> And yet programming those graphical interfaces is an exception. There,
>> with very few exceptions, we still *require* a command interface. Not
>> just a command interface, but an *off-line* command interface, where you
>> batch up all your commands then run them at once, as if we were
>> Neanderthals living in a cave.
> 
> You've got that back to front.
> 
> It's the GUI users who are the Neanderthals, having to effectively point
> at things with sticks. Or have to physically move that rock themselves
> (ie. drag a file to a wastebasket).

I haven't physically moved an icon to the wastebasket for years. I point at
the icon, right-click, and tell it "move yourself to the trash".


> More advanced uses have the power of language, with all its
> sophistications (ie. commands lines and scripting). 

Language is pretty important. But when you need to drive a nail into a piece
of wood, would you rather hit the nail with a hammer, or explain to the
hammer the precise direction and magnitude of force you would like it to
apply when it impacts the nails?



-- 
Steven