Re: Application using PostgreSQL as a back end - Mailing list pgsql-novice

On Sun, November 13, 2005 9:19 am, Bill Dika said:
> Hi Daniel:
>
> Thanks for the quick response.

No problem; I happened to have time.   Sorry I couldn't do the quick
feedback.

> I intend to do this in Linux, using all open source software. I'm not too
>  concerned with getting it to run in Windows. I only use Windows at work
> and only rarely do I boot into it at home. I hope to eventually give back
>  something of some value to the open source community. If I can create a
> useful Linux application at home that is applicable to work, maybe
> sometime in the future I can get Linux on a desktop at work. We currently
> have Linux as a file server at work for backup, but all the desktop
> machines run Windows. Sorry I wasn't clear about this in my initial post.

No problem.  I just asked to clarify the problem space.

> As for my thought style, I tend to think mathematically and structurally
> (everything has it's place). After all I'm an accountant, who does a lot
> of income tax work for clients :-). Ideally I would like a development
> environment where I can create forms with text box, combo box and list
> box widgets, something like MS Access or PgAccess but offering a little
> more power and control.

This will be where you are going to have to work: There are toolkits that
give you the widgets to work with, but the graphical form creation is a
function of the IDE more than anything else.  So, to get it, you need a
language that is closely-tied to an IDE.

> Are any of the languages or environments I mentioned suitable for this?
> My initial thought is that a web interface would be a little too
> limiting. I would expect my users to be able to install without an
> expert.

Java is probably closest to what you want, though having just learned it
for my job I can say I think it is needlessly complicated.  I like Perl,
and you could do this in Perl, but you'll be laying out forms in code (not
graphically), and Perl takes experience and discipline to write good,
maintainable, code in.  (If you decide to try Perl, read 'Perl Best
Practices', it'll help.  Heck, read it anyway.  It's a good book.)

I've been looking at Ruby recently, and would recommend it but the toolbox
isn't as mature.  Still, it has most of the flexibility of Perl, while
aiding more in writing structured code.  You would be laying out the forms
in code here as well.  (Though if you wanted a web interface Ruby on Rails
looks amazing.)

In Java, with the right IDE, you might be able to avoid laying out the
forms in code, but that is because of the IDE, not the language.  I'd
expect the interface to end up mostly done in code, no matter what
language you end up in.  (Unless you use Visual Basic, a clone, or one of
the C-based, platform-specific, IDE toolchains.)

Java is probably the easiest to create an 'installer' for: Just package
everything in a .jar file.  Perl's CPAN is easy to use as well, but it is
harder to create the package for.  Running code while programming/testing
is the opposite way around: Java is several steps, and you have to get the
classpath right, where Perl can usually just run it.

Ruby is as easy to run, but I don't know if it has any particular
installation system.

I'd probably reluctantly recommend Java for this, right now.  I'd like to
recommend Ruby, but I'm just not sure if it has the tools you'll want.
(It may, but I don't know that.)

Daniel T. Staal

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