Volume 6A: Motif Programming Manual

2 Introduction to Motif

This chapter answers the question "Why Motif?" in terms of the development of applications that are "easy enough for

your mother to use." It suggests some of the complexities that the programmer has to master in order to make an

application simple.

Congratulations! After slaving behind the computer for months, fighting a deadline that seemed impossible to meet,

you've finished your software product and it's a big hit. The critics love it, you're in the money, and everyone,

including your mother, is buying your new product. Just as everything seems to be going your way, your worst

nightmare comes true: your mother calls and asks you how to use it.

An unlikely scenario? Not if you're developing applications to run under the Motif graphical user interface (GUI). As

a proposed standard for graphical user interfaces, Motif may be implemented on a wide range of computer platforms,

from large IBM mainframes right down to the PC that your mom may be using. The Open Software Foundation

(OSF), developer of the Motif GUI, hopes to reach all kinds of computers and computer users no matter how

advanced (or limited) their computer skills may be.

So, will your mom really call you for help? Well, mine did. In fact, she did something worse. She wanted me to

explain how to use a software product I didn't write. I didn't know how her software worked or even what it was.

Fortunately, though, the software was based on Microsoft Windows, which has more than a passing similarity to

Motif. ...