[Gambas-user] Gambas is slower than Python??

[Benoit Minisini]

On dimanche 18 janvier 2009, Gareth Bult wrote:
> Conversely, people use GTK bindings in Python .. Why ?!
> I understand that once upon a time it's what there was .. but not any more!
> Development time for Python or C based GUI applications is 50x more than
> the Gambas equivalent (in this instance I don't think the 50 is an
> exaggeration) and it all comes down (really) to the IDE. (IMHO)
>

I don't know if there are some people that have a global view of Gambas. So I 
will say that:

- The primary goals of Gambas were simplicity (in the bindings especially), 
quick GUI designing and coding.

- Speed was not the goal, but the interpreter in Gambas 3 is optimized (far 
less in Gambas 2). But its design is old (I wanted a working one before a 
fast one), and now I have ideas to redesign it so that the bytecode is 
interpreted faster, maybe twice. But: I have no time. And Gambas usually 
spend more CPU time in system libraries and native classes than during the 
bytecode dispatching. So what you would win will not very visible!

- The bindings, well, are not bindings: toolkit and libraries API are often 
hidden. You can (almost) write a program for GTK+ and switch to QT3, or the 
contrary. You can write a program completely independant of the database 
backend. So the guy who wants PostgreSQL only can use your program even if 
you developed it with MySQL. When the gb.image and gb.cairo components will 
be done in Gambas 3, you will be able to display a page of a PDF file with 
vector and image drawn on, all being displayed on an OpenGL rotating cube. I 
don't know wich other Linux languages will allow that (mixing Cairo, OpenGL, 
QT transparently...)

- When I have time, I will merge the database manager in the IDE, and add 
features so that the IDE have more support for Web applications (ASP-like 
pages integrated with syntax highlighting, maybe support for creating Web 
Forms...). That was always the goal.

- The object model of Gambas is specific. It actually allows things that you 
cannot do in Java/.Net... and many other object languages, because compiled 
bytecode files are entirely linked at runtime. Then you can do things like 
extending a native class (the Application class has more methods, depending 
on the components you use), overriding it and change its behaviour (you can 
redefine the TextArea class and add it an automatic completion feature based 
on a dictionnary, like a cellphone does when you type SMS), use classes from 
a component that is not necessarily checked in the IDE (The Settings class 
can take the geometry of a Window and put it in the settings file without 
requesting a gui component). This feature is used in many, many places in the 
IDE and in components.

In other words, maybe it is silly to say, but I made Gambas to have a language 
that have features not found in other languages, that allowed me to program 
Gambas. :-)

-- 
Benoit Minisini