[danpla]

> What they would lose is that they wouldn't exist in the first place or wouldn't be as full-featured.

These are some pretty bold statements.

* "They wouldn't exist in the first place" implies that ImGui was the primary reason and foundation for creating these programs. As if using the traditional retained mode GUI is so unbearable that without ImGui the authors would have abandoned the idea of creating these tools in the first place.

* "Or wouldn't be as full-featured" implies that ImGui is either more full-featured or (if you meant time) is faster to develop with compared to a traditional retained mode GUI.

> I'm surprised this is so hard to comprehend?

Well, I'm surprised that some people keep presenting the immediate mode GUI as the silver-bullet alternative to the traditional GUI. Don't get me wrong: I understand that IMGUI is a great tool if you need to quickly add a throway GUI to a game, but otherwise there is a price to pay, both by the developer and the end user.

[ocornut]

I am not saying it is a silver bullet.

I'm saying it is making some development - those that are well aligned with the frameworks qualities - particularly efficient. Efficiency and productivity are everything. Productivity is often a major contributor in bridging the gap between cancelled and released, between painful and pleasant, between under-featured and full-featured, between abandoned and maintained, between unprofitable and profitable.

So while not saying things are simple to describe and compare, they are not, Dear ImGui focus on high-productivity is the reason why it has been adopted by some people.

> without ImGui the authors would have abandoned the idea of creating these tools in the first place.

It is probable those particular authors would have, yes.

I meant, it's not a secret that many engineers are totally afraid or uninterested in UI programmers. A common feedback is of certain people saying "hey, dear imgui made UI programming fun for me". So I'm confidently saying that SOME software wouldn't have existed without dear imgui. It being so brutally different in term of philosophy, coding style, culture, by definition makes it reach a different crowd.

> implies that ImGui is either more full-featured or (if you meant time) is faster to develop with compared to a traditional retained mode GUI.

Dear ImGui is clearly LESS full-featured than e.g Qt, but for some uses is is faster to develop with than most other frameworks.