A GUI toolkit looking for a friend

[Tore Lund]

Simon Peyton-Jones wrote:
> 
> Gentle Haskellers
> 
> This message is to invite offers to complete a promising
> port of the Clean Object I/O library to Haskell.
> 
> As you know, there are quite a few GUI toolkits for Haskell, but
> none of them has become a de-facto standard.  One confusing aspect
> is that there are different "levels":
>         (see http://haskell.org/libraries/#guigs)

I had hoped for a lively debate following this post, but so far there
has not been a single response.  So let me ask a few questions.

> * Strangely, there are very few "in the middle" systems.  One might hope
>   for an interface that was somewhat independent of the low-level library,
>   and somewhat more Haskell friendly, than the low-level veneers, but
>   not as ambitious as the high-level systems.                     ^^^
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What's wrong with "ambitious" high-level systems.  Is something amiss
with their basic ideas or is it the nuts and bolts?  Are they too slow? 
Too big?  Too abstract?  In short, why is there a need to avoid the high
level and go for "in-the-middle" systems?  I am still so new to Haskell
that I have no opinion in the matter, and if Simon's comments reflect
some hard learned lessons about GUIs, I am curious to know what they
are.

It might, after all, be simpler to continue developing (say) FranTk,
than to start all over again with the Clean Object I/O Library, for
which there may or may not emerge volunteers who will complete the port.
-- 
    Tore