Why Python?
I’m currently working on a small widget for Screenlets that posts to the Tumblr service. My first impressions are that it’s very hard to write a screenlet, and very inefficient. Why?
- the screenlet has to be written in Python
- there is no documentation on how to write a screenlet, not even API documentation
- everything has to be SVG oriented
- there are many useless things you’d have to do
These points are really bugging me. Why couldn’t the Linux community just develop a widget engine that works with HTML, JavaScript, CSS and PNG/SVG? Why are they making everything Python-oriented. That freaks the hell out of me! And yet they don’t even give you an API documentation.
Back to the Python ramblings. Haven’t the developers learned something from Yahoo! and Apple? That it is far better to use more common techniques for writing a widget, say JavaScript and HTML with CSS. That is the same way that Yahoo! and Apple do it! If the widget is in Python, things get a bit more complicated. And again, without documentation it’s nothing! Writing a widget in Python is a BIG PAIN IN THE ASS!
That’s why I decided not to write a widget, yet an Application, or a Gnome Panel Applet because I’d spend more time on writing a widget, than an Application with many features.
Thank you for reading,
Stojance Dimitrovski





Hey
Just googled ‘tumblr screenlet’ and this came up. I’m not skilled enough by far to dabble with making my own, but would really like to know if you ever get this working. My wife has the osx widget for tumblr and it kinda sucks (just a box that will post text). I’m surprised no one has made a better one for linux. Best of luck!
-Lee
Lee
November 11, 2007 at 3:51 am