Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Linux Database GUI Application Development?
New submitter msubieta writes I have been developing some applications to use in small businesses using Windows and SQL Server. I would like to move on and start doing the same thing in Linux. I have looked at several Frameworks/Databases/Development environments and I really don't know what is the best/simplest/fastest to learn approach. I use VS and C# mostly, although I could easily go back to C++. I found Qt and GTK+ are the most common frameworks, but they seem to lack controls that deal with datasets and stuff (sorry, spoiled by the .net form controls), but I also know that I could use Mono in order to make the jump. I would have no problem on moving to MySQL, as I have done quite a lot of work on that side, and I would like to stick with the traditional client server application, as I find it easier to maintain, and a whole lot more robust when it comes to user interaction (web apps for POS applications don't seem to be the right way to go in my view). Any suggestions/comments/recommendations?
Look into the Lazarus project. It's a Delphi semi-clone.
Table-ized A.I.
I'm going to get jumped for saying this, but stick with Windows for fat client development. Unless you are looking at developing web apps, you are going to be almost completely disappointed at the selection of tools available to you on Linux when compared to those for Windows. I'm not saying that there aren't tools for doing this on Linux, but dear gawd, why would you want to when the VS tools are so much easier to work with. And by "work with" I mean get work done. Use MySQL on Linux as your db server, by all means, but do your client development with what you already know.
You might want to take a longer look at C# because there is no reason you can't just use Entity Framework to do exactly what you find it easier to do - create the model, creates readers and writers, abstract the database stuff away and just get to use plain C# objects, lists, collections and other things instead of cumbersome DataTables or Datasets etc.
You couldn't be more wrong if you tried.
If you're willing to explore something other than what Microsoft has spoon fed you, there's more than enough shiny happy development interfaces out there.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
>But if your goal is to have a POS application, stop writing code right now. There exist hundreds of off the shelf POS apps all ready. For Windows, for Linux, thick clients, thin clients, web, desktop, green screen, etc...
And they are all shit.
So I wrote my own. It's not shit. The staff tell me it's not shit.
POSs are shit because they have to attend to the general case, whereas each store is a special case. I our case, there is nothing that comes close to addressing the particular needs of a yarn store (SKUd and non SKUd goods, hand made goods, goods my weight and/or volume, consignment goods, classes, group sessions etc). Go into a yarn store and see if they check you out by slowly clicking and typing at some horrible POS, they usually do.
If you took my POS and put it in a hardware store, it would be shit.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
How about Java FX 8?
Being actually using it for half of a year. It's a significant improvement over Swing and definitely superior to winform or GTK#, not so over WPF.
A few problems with it:
.
.
I don't think you'd find a better cross-platform choice. However it'd be very unsuitable for tighter integration with Linux desktop (notifications/WM/process/shell controls etc).
When the only hammer you have is C++, every problem begins to look like a thumb.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Yup. I develop on Microsoft, Linux, and OS X, and anyone who thinks there are better IDEs than VS are fucking delusional. There's a reason I charge a hell of a lot more to develop on Linux and OS X vs on a MS platform.