KDE Software Compilation 4.5 Released

[kraftman]

Metacity has had compositing for years (though you can disable it via a gconf key)

You meant enable it, right? I know xfce has option to turn composition on, but I never saw this in Metacity.

[yotambien]

I program serious stuff in C++, but python is a brilliant prototyping and rapid development language.

^That and nothing else. If people use this these high level languages for making enduser programs then these people:
1. are stupid
2. should be shot IMHO

That opens several possibilities for consideration:

1. I didn't get your attempt at humour
2. I didn't get the meaning of your post
3. You have no idea what you are talking about

I guess number 1 is the most likely one. I haven't been following/trolling this thread so probably are a bit disconnected with the tone of the posts. Forgive any inconvenience this may have caused.

[liam]

No, disable.

You meant enable it, right? I know xfce has option to turn composition on, but I never saw this in Metacity.

...but I would assume that if your drivers can't handle the compositing, and the cpu is too slow, then it might be disabled by default. However, as far as I can recall it has always been enabled by default with my 8400GS.

Best/Liam

[liam]

My initial feelings of 4.5

This is, thus far, the best KDE I've ever used, including 3.5.x. Far more stable than 4.4 for me, and KWin has gained a nice tiling feature than works pretty well (but really needs to know how to handle multiple monitors).
Really, I am just so suprised about how much more responsive the Desktop is as opposed to previous releases, and the fact that nothing of consequence has crashed (e.g., the Desktop hasn't become non-responsive due to buggy Plasmoids).
BTW, does anyone know how to configure mouse shortcuts in GwenView such that I can use the scrollwheel to zoom in/out? Also, how do you limit windows to specific Activity spaces? I haven't been able to find much in the way of settings for Activities.

Best/Liam

[V!NCENT]

That opens several possibilities for consideration:

1. I didn't get your attempt at humour
2. I didn't get the meaning of your post
3. You have no idea what you are talking about

That would be option 2.

Python is a high level language, which means unnessecary additional CPU and power consumption solely because the developper wants an easyser language. Given that C++ can be used to do anything that you would need Python for (except for rapid prototyping) it means that the developper chooses it because he or she can't code in C++.

This implies:
1. The coder is simply stupid, and;
2. Should be shot, because nobody wants his userspace filled with tons of in Python written applications in the next couple of years.

[liam]

It really depends on what is written in Python.

That would be option 2.

Python is a high level language, which means unnessecary additional CPU and power consumption solely because the developper wants an easyser language. Given that C++ can be used to do anything that you would need Python for (except for rapid prototyping) it means that the developper chooses it because he or she can't code in C++.

This implies:
1. The coder is simply stupid, and;
2. Should be shot, because nobody wants his userspace filled with tons of in Python written applications in the next couple of years.

Linux Magazine did a little test a couple of years ago with Python and C. It was a quick calculation for, I want to say Pi, but I really don't recall exactly, and the end result was that C was faster, but not THAT much faster. Also, that was an extreme example where bit twiddling actually has an affect.
Python is fine for a building a GUI, as long as the "hard stuff" is written in some system language. BTW, Python "compiles" down to C after it is first run, and from then on you execute that file.
BTW, I am not a big Python booster. I despise the forced formatting. I much prefer brackets. However, I've run enough Python applications in Gnome for me to determine that the programmer, as usual, is more important than the language, but Python is awfully easy to develop with, and, unlike Ruby, not ridiculously slow.

Best/Liam

[yotambien]

That would be option 2.

Python is a high level language, which means

Which means an easier to understand code, a lower barrier of entry for new developers, faster results and easier maintenance. All you point out to is its lower performance compared to other languages, which with nowadays computers is unimportant--after all, nobody is talking about implementing graphics drivers in Python. I do want to have access to as many applications as possible, and some little gems written in Python proved to be extremelly useful to me, not to talk about the well known programs.

I don't think you realise how many applications are coded, totally or partially, in Python, and are wrongly assuming the performance penalty is an issue compared to its other benefits.

[V!NCENT]

Linux Magazine did a little test a couple of years ago with Python and C. It was a quick calculation for, I want to say Pi, but I really don't recall exactly, and the end result was that C was faster, but not THAT much faster.

Compile a function to calculate PI to C once, then let that C function run forever 'till you're out of RAM or anything.

Doesn't convince me

[V!NCENT]

Which means an easier to understand code, a lower barrier of entry for new developers, faster results and easier maintenance.

Perfect for system administration and already used like that. Also kind of good enough for underlying C++/C frameworks, like Plasma widgets in KDE and already used like that.

But seriously, complete applications? I personaly don't like that. This enters the Java domain, like Frostwire. I don't want apps to be as slow as that. I have a pretty good quadcore and that app slows it down to a crawl.

(And the shot part was ofcourse not meant literaly.)

[pingufunkybeat]

^That and nothing else. If people use this these high level languages for making enduser programs then these people:
1. are stupid
2. should be shot IMHO

I disagree.

I've used Mnemosyne and Anki for quite a while (especially the former) and they were great, both in python.

Of course, I wouldn't write a high-performance database in Python, but it is not as inefficient as people think. When it comes to front-ends and stuff that's not performance-critical, Python is actually a great high-level language.