Data aware widgets in KDE
Well, reading in planetkde about how nice data aware widgets would be, I have to say this:
Data aware widgets are great
Data aware widgets in C++ are not the best possible solution
Using a higher level language, and specifically a more dynamic language makes lots of things much simpler.
As a tiny, lame example, please check the little thing I wrote about data aware widgets in python here.
I am sure that some of our better programmers (or more creative thinkers) can come up with awesome stuff if they divorce from C++ in this subject :-)
I suggest you read the article I linked.
If you use a modern language, you don't need to subclass. I think data aware widgets should be provided in the way that leads to writing better apps.
In the world of fat DB clients, C++ and Python have little to none performance difference. And rapid prototyping is crucial, since the app's UI will have to change quickly and often.
Python fits better into that. And C++ doesn't fit at all. If you implement the data-aware widgets in C++, you push that inflexinility into all languages :-(
Surely any extra widgets for KDE/Qt should be written such that they are available from standard libraries - i.e. in C/C++ - they can then easily be used by any another language that the UI is written it. I love python but to write a line edit subclass that only takes dates, or integers, or specific formats, is a very simple task in the great scheme of things.
abdulhaq