vgtk VS areweguiyet

A pretty fun Rust GUI experienc is vgtk[0], which is doing a bunch of macro magic to give a "we're coding in React" vibe to GTK+. I don't really have a specific thing I want to code in a native GUI at the moment but if I did I think this would be the most tempting for me.

[0]: https://github.com/bodil/vgtk/

a stateful GUI markup language is react. it is not yet the case that react-like code works for desktop, though there are cool examples like vgtk https://github.com/bodil/vgtk

from what i gather from https://github.com/bodil/vgtk/issues/78, you're better off using realm

I'm always curious to see these projects, because I've been experimenting with a React renderer for the GJS bindings for a while. It's frustrating because GTK "feels like" it's so close to being able to support a vdom/declarative paradigm, but the devil is in the details.

The simple use-cases like "Window > Box > Label" are easy to get going. The more complex widgets like Stack/Grid/TreeView ... aren't.

This project seems to have the same issue: https://github.com/bodil/vgtk/issues/40

This is made more difficult now GTK4 has removed the Container base class, so there's no longer a unified interface for adding children (although it had caveats in the first place).

I totally get the GTK view that (presumably) specific widgets are more intuitive with specific add/remove APIs (like the grid - one doesn't really "appendChild" to a grid).

It just feels like: if there was a consistent container API comparable to the web's appendChild approach, a vdom/declarative approach would require only a very light wrapper. Without it, I keep coming back to the idea of implementing wrapper widgets that expose that consistent API instead. And that's just not something I want to maintain - effectively duplicating each GTK widget for the purpose of making it fit into a tree model.

It's also a problem of trying to wrap richer functionality (pack_start and pack_end) into a simpler set (append only) of course.

So I don't know exactly what my point is :) Perhaps cautioning the reader that the simplicity of the approach comes with a catch.

A declarative desktop UI framework for Rust built on GTK and GTK-rs\ (23 comments)

Build your own To-do List Application in Rust: https://bodil.lol/vgtk/

The organization behind QT (QT Group) has pretty onerous licensing terms.

My understanding is that it's $3,950 per year just to develop using their libraries on your own computer if you ever in the future intend to commercialize a product using QT. Transitioning from the open source license to the commercial license is something you can do but it's not the happy path and their FAQ seems to indicate that it comes with some sort of penalty.

https://www.qt.io/pricing

Something like Slint (Rust based but includes CPP and JS bindings) is not as comprehensive (yet) but it's more modern and the licensing terms are significantly more in line with software industry norms.

GPUI from Zed is also something to monitor: https://www.gpui.rs/

Also, in general you can find an extensive list of Rust-based native UI libraries here: https://areweguiyet.com/

I would suggest that nearly every person on this website is a developer. Both C and C++ let you shoot yourself in the foot quite easily, but at least C++ has RAII.

If you're referring to Rust, it's just not there yet for anything serious: https://areweguiyet.com/

I normally use python to do some quick data analysis, with pandas/polars/pyspark/...

But I've started to use rust more and more in the last few weeks and really start to like it.

Does anyone have experience doing data analysis with rust, and would you recommend it over python?

And are there any resources like https://areweguiyet.com/ but for data analysis?

You still haven't said anything about why those existing frameworks don't count. Again, they are used in production and do exactly what a gui framework is supposed to do. Sure they may not have all the features of the frameworks that have existed a decade before rust even existed but the issue is time not rust itself. They very clearly can be used to build complex UI without inheritance. Since you mentioned it, you should probably actually look at it https://areweguiyet.com/ the page clearly says that GUI frameworks do exist in rust.

The web site https://areweguiyet.com/ has a list of GUI libraries for Rust.

I haven’t tried any yet as I lack the time, but it can be a good starting point.

Iced and Slint where interesting when I looked at that, and Slint may be done by former Qt developers.

I also hope that it is consistent with the goals mentioned at https://areweguiyet.com/