thanks for the responses. Here is my IMHO about some of the points raised
RE
JanusTwoface:
1. the issue of porting AS3. The codebase is about 10KLOC and is (mostly) independent of flash specific widgets. In practice maybe several of these KLOC might be shaved off if some of the more "specialized" features are not ported as irrelevant. It's essentially no dependencies code mixing OOP and functional style / array comprehension coding styles. I am not sure how easy that would be to port to "DF version" C++ (which is probably a sui generis environment / virtual machine) but porting to Javascript, Perl, Lisp or any other interpreted language with widely available interpreters wouldn't be real hard. But yes, up front, I do recognize that this is a very valid point about a complex issue.
2. to compare nestgrid to "SDL gui" as both being "easily configurable" is to miss the point of nestgrid. Nestrid is *a lot* easier configurable than anything involving WIMP widgets. Incidentally, another aspect to the ease of configurability is that the likely application of the technology to Dwarf Fortress would allow easy configuration/configuration not just by the programmer but also by the users. Nestgrid allows creation of custom menus / todo lists / "reports" just by rearranging "lines" in "document" so depending on circumstances the user could have references to specific high value dwarves or projects "near the top" at his fingertips, as well as notes about them, dashboard progress info, links to related items etc. Nestgrid could also easily support free-form search through the objects it represents, e.g. both search for dwarves with certain features or for commands with certain names.
3. RE GPL license, the codebase belongs to me and is dual licensed - under Affero GPL and under anything else that I feel like releasing it under. The cost for the commercial license is still vague (nobody asked for it
) but it would be quite finite, and quite possibly $0.00... I do realize that Toady One wouldn't incorporate GPL code, obviously.
RE
KingMir:
Dwarf Fortress is not built of "widgets" but it *is* built of objects. Dwarves, animals, traps, rooms etc are all objects with attributes. Nestgrid allows an easy and infinitely extensible way of making user interfaces for representing and controlling such objects. That's what nestgrid is all about
RE
BeyondRepair:
yeah, I know about widget libraries and Toady One's decision. I just figured that because of inherent superiority of nestgrid to widgets for representing Rogue-like games and interfaces he may change his mind.
Or even if he doesn't, maybe somebody else would be interested in nestgrid or quasi-nestgrid interface for Dwarf Fortress mods. Unfortunately I myself don't have much understanding of how DF mods, ERPs and other wrapper thingies work at this point, i.e. what they can and cannot do, how they do it etc.