Rebol Quickstart (by Geeky I)
I've been meaning to try out rebol (or red). I think it might be the perfect fit for my next project. I've downloaded and tested out red 0.5.4, and REBOL/View 2.7
However, there are a couple of roadblocks for a complete beginner to rebol:
* Red seems to be still in alpha so it is out of the question
* There seems to be 3+(?) branches: REBOL3 - what is the difference between the different branches? I'm not sure what to start on
* Most of the documentation on the internet is for rebol 2 and documentation explaining the differences between rebol 2 and 3 is.. non existent? (case in point: parse is different)
So, my question is, if I were to develop a (Windows) gui application with http access (including http authentication) where should I start?
Should I use rebol 2, rebol 3(ren c), or red?
posted by: StackOverflow Reflector 16-Jan-2016/14:40:39-8:00
> Red seems to be still in alpha so it is out of the question
> ...
> Should I use rebol 2, rebol 3(ren c), or red?
I note you said it's out of the question... then you asked if you should use it... :-)
If your goal is to build Windows GUI code, Ren-C is not focused on that goal at this time. Its goal is to be flexible, however, and provide a solid and thought-out core for whatever one implements with it. A GUI would be one of those things--but I'd wait for a complete design for a GUI that is worth cloning.
Note there are some documentation resources for Ren-C, a Trello for notes, and a FAQ is getting started:
https://trello.com/b/l385BE7a/rebol3-porting-guide-ren-c-branch
https://github.com/metaeducation/ren-c/wiki/FAQ
In R3/View as maintained by Atronix, there have been mixed reports of people who've used it. Atronix is building real stuff, but the most interesting parts of the GUI here are customized code (the "pure Rebol" parts are the logic and network and such):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj1CEU2RlBg
I myself don't use R3-GUI. But I know many who were satisfied with Rebol2 VID and tried to build applications with it have felt that it wasn't working for them; to the extent that it addressed weaknesses it weren't ones that bothered them in Rebol2, and things they wanted to work did not.
Red is seeking to deliver something that satisfies the people who were largely satisfied with the VID, but to do more and on more modern platforms. Some early documentation was published recently:
https://github.com/red/red/wiki/Red-View-Graphic-System
> So, my question is, if I were to develop a (Windows) gui application with http access (including http authentication) where should I start?
What you might do is see how far you can get with Rebol2. It may not be perfect but it's stable and has been around a long time. If it works out well for you then the odds are porting what you have to Red won't be hard when it is ready. If you try Rebol2 and do not end up liking it for fundamental reasons, you can look and see if those reasons still apply in Red or not.
Whatever one thinks of the GUI, as languages there are some interesting ideas to be taken in. If you ask a few beginner questions on StackOverflow and put some code in them, you'll get past the 20 point "spam filter" quickly, and can join the chat:
http://rebolsource.net/go/chat-faq
Red's chat centers on gitter.im:
https://gitter.im/red/red
posted by: Fork 16-Jan-2016/14:57:11-8:00
None.
It is not advisable atm. Sorry. Stick with the generally accepted languages for such development.
Stick around if you have time. Within 2 years both Ren/C and Red are very workable.
In 5 to 10 years time Red and Ren/C will be the best around.
Sorry but it the most honest answer I can give right now.
posted by: iArnold 16-Jan-2016/15:00:40-8:00
One thing you don't specify is who would be the users of the Windows application you're wanting to create. If it's the general public, whether a commercial application or otherwise, then Rebol 2 really doesn't cut it any more. The text-handling alone counts it out. (Meaning in the GUI.)
But if it's just for your own use and you can live with a program that's a bit rough in spots, you should be able to create one that does what you want with Rebol 2.
posted by: Carl Read 16-Jan-2016/17:28:40-8:00
If R2 provides everything you need, use it. Be sure to check out RebGUI and ChrisRG's OAuth library.
posted by: Nick 17-Jan-2016/7:18:44-8:00
I agree with everything written above, but it really comes down to the specific functionality you need to implement.
I build rebol R2 .exe's at work and roll-out simple desktop GUIs for internal audiences. My apps serve as a friendly front-end to batch scripts for building reports, querying web-services and mass-updating text/xml records. Locally the users activate a simple "hollow" menu .exe which downloads the .r scripts and GUIs from an internal webserver.
These apps are pretty simple, and the GUIs are either "wizard" type apps where the user steps through a short series of screens to select options, or dashboard/control-panel-styled apps.
I am planning a more ambitious UI this year to support our content transformation needs, but I'm not sure yet whether I'll run into GUI limitations in R2.
I'd say that if your GUI is relatively simple, you ought to get pretty far using R2 and VID or RebGUI.
http://www.dobeash.com/rebgui.html
posted by: Edoc 18-Jan-2016/11:07:26-8:00
I should have qualified my answer a bit more. It really depends on what features you need immediately available, how much documentation, hand holding, and existing example code you'll need/want to get up to speed, etc. Atronix is doing some impressive work with their implementation of R3-GUI: http://www.atronixengineering.com/zoe But you'll need to be comfortable enough exploring the internals of that implementation on your own, without many documentation or example resources to guide you.
posted by: Nick 18-Jan-2016/13:40:21-8:00
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