Visualizing Data with Curses.pm and Tk::Text

Visualizing Data with Curses.pm and Tk::Text

By Jürgen Christoffel (‎JC‎)
Date: Thursday, 24 July 2003 09:45
Duration: 20 minutes
Language:

I/O via STDIN, STDOUT and STDERR is conceptually one-dimensional and batch
oriented. But modules like Curses.pm or Tk::Text offer ways to easily
provide two-dimensional and interactive output without much initial effort.

Curses - while Perl/TK offers modules to develop a full-blown GUI for Perl
programs, it requires graphical systems like the X Window System to work
upon. As people work in console mode or via remote login over connections
with limited bandwidth from time to time, Curses still has a place in the
21st century as it offers an API to easily manage an abstract and
two-dimensional display device.

Tk::Text - Perl/Tk presents a rather steep learning curve to the newcomer
to GUI programming. But some of its widgets are already really useful when
used stand-alone. This is especially true of Tk::Text which can be used in
much the same way as Curses.pm to manage an abstract two-dimensional
display device, but with additional features like fonts and graphics
support if needed.

Tk::Text can even be used as a useful debugging aid while developing Perl
programs using Curses.pm

This talk won't give a detailed introduction into the intricacies of Curses
or Perl/Tk programming but instead will give a short overview of the most
important concepts and will present some easy ways to utilize Curses and
Tk::Text from Perl to get you started. Examples will show you how to
visualize data like log files by highlighting matches or important lines
while hiding less interesting data which otherwise might distract from the
important stuff.