[Year 12 SofDev] A matter of style - GUI data structures vs primitives

[Mark KELLY]

Hi Laurie. I dare say you're right: it's just a display and the manipulation
is done by pixies.  After all, GUI is just an interface.
But for the moment let's treat it like a black box and not worry about how
the internal machinations take place.  I'm curious about whether the use of
GUI data structures is a good programming practice.

On 29 November 2010 10:50, Laurie Savage
<savage.john.l at edumail.vic.gov.au>wrote:

>  Serious question: Is a GUI widget a data structure or a tool for
> displaying a data structure?
>
>
>
> Laurie
>
> PVGC
>
>
>
> *From:* sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:
> sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au] *On Behalf Of *Mark KELLY
> *Sent:* Monday, 29 November 2010 10:39 AM
> *To:* Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List
> *Subject:* [Year 12 SofDev] A matter of style - GUI data structures vs
> primitives
>
>
>
> Hi all.  Just had an odd passing thought while working on a programming
> skills theory slideshow.  (Don't you hate it when you actually start *
> thinking* while getting work done?)
>
> Most programming languages now offer GUI data structures like listboxes,
> grids etc.
> I'm interested to know how many people use them as their primary data
> structures as opposed to using arrays to store and manipulate data and then
> populating the GUI structure with data from the array.
>
> I tend to use the latter method for intensive manipulation needs, and the
> former for simple storage & display.
>
> What sort of performance penalty does the use of the GUI data structure
> impose? Do the GUI structure's capabilities (e.g. auto-sorting lists)
> outweigh the penalty?
> How efficient is the GUI's inbuilt sorting algorithm compared to a good
> do-it-yourself sorting algorithm?  (I tend to think the built-in one will
> beat mine any day.)
>
> --
> Mark Kelly
> Manager Information Systems
> Reporting Manager
> IT Learning Area Manager
>
> McKinnon Secondary College
> McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204
> Victoria, Australia
> Direct line / Voicemail: +613 8520 9085
> Fax +613 9578 9253
> kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
>
> VCE IT Lecture Notes: http://vceit.com
> Moderator: IT Applications Edulist
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> dairy.
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-- 
Mark Kelly
Manager Information Systems
Reporting Manager
IT Learning Area Manager

McKinnon Secondary College
McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204
Victoria, Australia
Direct line / Voicemail: +613 8520 9085
Fax +613 9578 9253
kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au

VCE IT Lecture Notes: http://vceit.com
Moderator: IT Applications Edulist

My cow died on this day two years ago.  I know because I noted it in my
dairy.
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