Re: Extending Insight

[Keith Seitz <keiths@redhat.com>]

Brandon Diamond wrote:
>  - With a strong background in C and a virtually non-existent background in Tcl,
>     - Would it be possible to implement additional windows containing
> varied UI components within a reasonable amount of time?

Definitely. Tcl/iTcl/iTk are simple languages. Just choose one of the 
newer windows and use it as a template.

>     - Could it be done in 1-3 weeks?

I should think so.

>     - Would a working knowledge of TCL suffice, or would I have to go
> pro? (if I could get by with minimal knowledge, is there a quick-start
> tutorial that you'd recommend?)

You don't need to be a pro at Tcl, not even the slightest. Tcl was meant 
to be easy to work with, and it is. The real problem you are going to 
run into is that insight is a bit of a mess. [Of course, if there are 
any questions about how to accomplish something, you are always welcome 
to send email to this list.]

>     - Is the Insight source & design amenable to these modification--
> or would this be a huge undertaking? (i.e., I'd have to read all of
> the code to even get started and break a bunch of abstractions in so
> doing)

While I think the internals are a bit of a mess, I do not think it would 
be difficult to do. We already have a basic plug-in architecture (see 
src/gdb/gdbtk/plugins/HOW-TO. If there are any problems (or bit rot), I 
can be found here.

> Finally, if Insight is the wrong place for me to start, does anyone
> know of a similar project that I might have a better chance of
> extending?

There are several gdb UI's around, the problem we found with most of 
them is that none of them (other than Inisght) run in the same process 
as gdb. As a result, they can be very limiting if gdb hasn't implemented 
some MI feature or you want access to more of gdb's internals.

Each of these other alternatives are also written in lower-level 
languages like C. We specifically chose Tcl to allow us to rapidly write 
UI code -- no need to recompile. Just reload the edited class/file into 
the already running interpreter and go. It's an amazingly efficient 
paradigm. It also allowed us to target Windows in the days before 
python, gtk, qt, etc.

DDD is, I think, one of the most popular of the gdb GUIs. You might want 
to check it out, too.

Keith