I say this as a programmer: that's such a programmer excuse for an awful UI. I'm not directing that at you, but at the group who decided how to draw circles on the screen.
Option A: Build a function that calls all the appropriate actions in sequence, then stick it on a menu.
Option B: Tell users that they're better off doing it manually.
...which inevitably leads to:
Result C: Why don't more people want to use it?, and
Result D: Appealing to programmers who think that's a great idea because it worked OK for themselves, and building more features with the same paradigm, creating a feedback loop.
At that point just have a Shapes tool with every shape under the sun. Just having a dedicated tool to draw circles seems like a waste of valuable UI surface.
Well, right. I meant that to be more illustrative than literal.
That’s what other tools do, and what I think GIMP should do: provide a shortcut for the basics (circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, etc.). If you want to draw a tree, that’s on you. Put a box around a thing? It should help you.
After thinking about it I don't disagree, and can only offer a data point that I don't think I've ever personally needed such a tool, even as a Gimp noob.
Option A: Build a function that calls all the appropriate actions in sequence, then stick it on a menu.
Option B: Tell users that they're better off doing it manually.
...which inevitably leads to:
Result C: Why don't more people want to use it?, and
Result D: Appealing to programmers who think that's a great idea because it worked OK for themselves, and building more features with the same paradigm, creating a feedback loop.