Do you think that Motif programming is old...should I learn it...
There are many reasons and advantages to programming in Motif. A few of these reason are like below:
Motif provides an introduction to graphic user interface (GUI) programming -- all computers now employ some form of a GUI to their operating systems and other key applications. Most GUIs adhere to similar design principles. Motif can be as regarded a high level GUI toolkit that adopts and enforces common GUI design principles.
X Window provides a consistent means of graphical user interaction for UNIX workstations.
Motif provides a high level toolkit, that already has many fully featured GUI objects. For example cut and paste, multi-line text editors, file browsers, drag and drop mechanisms. Simple yet usable Motif applications can be assembled by bolting such objects together. Motif speeds up GUI program development.
The X Window system is device independent -- it can run on most common computer platforms. If there is a need for different platforms to interact together over a network, X Window might be a good way to achieve this.
Professional X Window programmers are still not that numerous even though they are in great demand.
A quick scan through any Computer Vacancies Column in major Computer magazines, journals or employment agencies highlight the needs on Motif Programming.
In base, Motif Programming is not old and it should be learned by every everyone especially those thinking of GUI based programming.
I agree for the most part. X in general is great to learn, not just Motif (like TCL/tk, GTK+, etc...). Motif is a dying (dead?) product, since it's commercial software. Even many of the big Unix vendors, like HP and Sun are moving away from Motif-based window managers, and onto robust, freely-licensed schemes like Gnome (GTK). It certainly wouldn't hurt to know Motif, since I'm sure a number of companies would want to port their custom and commercial offerings to whatever is most popular, but don't spend too much time in a dying area.
Then again, I may be wrong... How often do you see training for old Unisys mainframes, even though many companies still rely heavily on them? Sure, they're not current technology, but they're not going away any time soon...
Motif just came out with a new version
Check out www.motifzone.org
Also, Motif is opening up, but there is the free LessTif, too.
The reason big companies are moving away from it are not technical, it is bandwagonial.
Sun made a very bad desktop made on Motif, the current CDE, and it is so bad that they thought it easier to adopt GNOME instead of clenaing it up or reimplementing it on the new (THEMEABLE!!) Motif.
However, if your processor is a slow 1Ghz or even a darns slow 750MHz Athlon, don't expect any of the desktop bloats to impress you.
My fastest x86 processor is a 500MHz Celeron, so anything but Motif is out of the question for me.
There is also Athena.
Why does Motif not die? It is required for Posix compliance, it is built the 'Unix' way - Gtk and Qt are both Windows-centered, Qt maybe more than Gtk.
There is also xforms, with fdesign, that one is as easy to use a BorlandC for WhineDoze.
Personally, I will not use a toolkit that does not have Unix style resource files.
But, I guess you d00ds start to know me by now 