I've done the same survey you're doing now a number of times, to see how things are getting along stably. There are a number of interesting kits and if you are into games then maybe sdl-perl but I would like to recommend WxPerl. A number of monks use it too.

WxPerl seems to be quite stable and is constantly growing. It is based on wxwidgets, which is a very widely used system with lots of docs, third party modules, etc. So WxPerl wraps nearly all the functions in the base kit. People can add modules, it's on CPAN and in a public CVS, basically it's very workmanlike. The wxwidgets.org docs and site in general is all extremely comprehensive and very useful, that's my main docs. I think the more people who get into wxperl the better, it will create more GUI tools for us in CPAN and provide more people to wrap, test and use new wxwidgets modules. Incidentally there is a good list of apps built with wxwidgets and also with wxperl. Maybe you want to ask Jouke or someone else why they like wxperl.

You do need to get used to the basic idea since the most powerful part is you can make your own perl package based on a standard window or control, and then use that customized widget or window. There are sizers for automatic layout and so on. You can use Glade or a commercial layout program for some GUI design of your apps. There is a demo program to show you how basic things are done, and an XRC system for building widgets at runtime.

I have not used perl gtk though a look at a tutorial on it makes it looks somewhat similar, since you do basically the same things. So far I haven't hit my head against anything and the docs and support for wxperl are pretty impressive. Now there are some things I've thought about, like having video and transparencies, and I don't know if wxperl can do that. There is an unwrapped video module for example, and wxperl can do Active X and OpenGL. I think it can do shaped windows but don't remember. Basically it's not gorgeous, I wouldn't mind a more beautiful interface, but it gets the job done and it seems to have the critical mass. I wanted to use TkZinc quite badly for a while but decided not to when (at the time, not any longer) it was unstable on WinXP.

For some reason I looked through Prima a few times and decided against it. If I wanted to do some fast animation I might now consider sdl-perl or even gtk-perl, but I'm designing one large project now and it will definitely be in wxperl. Hope this helps. Update: For what it's worth, I was extremely interested in DigiStrips and the mention about perl-anim in the OpenATC (now TkZinc) project. But the combination of opaque liscensing requirements and apathetic documentation really killed it for me. The DigiStrips are draggable live simulations of paper strips used in the French air traffic control simulation that started off OpenATC and even now I really would like to have them. The apparently fast and beautiful demo they made (only a couple screenshots but stunning) made me hunger badly. I will still go look at TkZinc another few times I expect but will perennially be wondering about animation or video and the modules they must have built. All that would be massively useful for the community if it was just opened, after all it is just their prototype, they aren't going to actually run the tower in perl. I think.

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