Could we use EiffelBuild for large project or it is only for prototyping?

[christian_lemer]

I try EiffelBuild and I find it very user-friendly, but I'm a little bit concerned about using such a tool for a large project. The use of a GUI-building tool could be restrictive.

Because Eiffel inheritance makes it very easy to create components, for the long term, it may be better to use our own specialized versions of the graphical objects that to use the standard ones.

Are you aware of any limitation of EiffelBuild that would justify to avoid its use for large projects.

[rfo]

I find it so easy to build custom widget combos in Eiffel text that I
never use Eiffel Build. That's not a knock on Eiffel Build, but an
endorsement of the Eiffel Vision model. However, if I were less of a
curmudgeon, I would probably use Eiffel Build it can be more
time-efficient when working with complex layouts (avoiding the brain
cramps that can occur those situations).  You don't need to use Eiffel
Build for everything (or anything I suppose), but it might be convenient
to have a 'scratch' Eiffel Build project for widget twiddling, even if
you do most of your work with the best GUI editor in the world - emacs
(LOL).

     R

==================================================
Roger F. Osmond


> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [eiffel_software] Could we use EiffelBuild for large project
> or it is only for prototyping?
> From: "christian_lemer" <[hidden email]>
> Date: Sat, September 12, 2009 1:21 pm
> To: [hidden email]
> I try EiffelBuild and I find it very user-friendly, but I'm a little bit concerned about using such a tool for a large project. The use of a GUI-building tool could be restrictive.
> Because Eiffel inheritance makes it very easy to create components, for the long term, it may be better to use our own specialized versions of the graphical objects that to use the standard ones.
> Are you aware of any limitation of EiffelBuild that would justify to avoid its use for large projects.

[Peter Gummer-2]

christian_lemer wrote:

> I try EiffelBuild and I find it very user-friendly, but I'm a little  
> bit concerned about using such a tool for a large project. The use  
> of a GUI-building tool could be restrictive.
>
> Because Eiffel inheritance makes it very easy to create components,  
> for the long term, it may be better to use our own specialized  
> versions of the graphical objects that to use the standard ones.
>
> Are you aware of any limitation of EiffelBuild that would justify to  
> avoid its use for large projects.

I use EiffelBuild for a couple of complex GUI applications, each of  
which has a main window containing dozens of widgets. Although these  
projects aren't as complex as EiffelStudio, they are far more than  
prototypes. They are fully functioning applications.

EiffelBuild's biggest restriction is the issue that you identified. If  
you write your own specialised widget or container classes, you cannot  
add them to your window in EiffelBuild. This is just an inconvenience,  
however, rather than a limitation, because you can still add your  
specialised widgets via hand-written code.

I would definitely use EiffelBuild for GUI projects. Although, as  
Roger said, it's easy to write the necessary code by hand, it's a lot  
more efficient to do it in EiffelBuild.

- Peter Gummer