Programming across X

lackluster · 07-05-2002, 03:21 PM

What [language|libraries] do I need to learn if I want to write X programs that'll run on KDE & GNOME and most other window managers?

dorward · 07-05-2002, 03:58 PM

Language - almost any
Libraries - GTK or FOX or QT or a whole bunch of others

I'd start by picking a language I like, then look in to the various language bindings available for it. I'm thinking about playing around with Ruby and FOX next time I want to fiddle with a GUI.

acid_kewpie · 07-05-2002, 04:03 PM

persoanlly i'd suggest c++ and gtk. the new gtk2 api is a good improvement on the 1.2 api, with some really good standards in place. and of course it looks a lot nicer than kde. and then also there's glade if you want to cheat and get it to write teh code for you.

lackluster · 07-05-2002, 04:19 PM

I'm sorry, I meant libraries only, not language. But if I use QT aren't I stuck with only KDE?

dorward · 07-05-2002, 04:31 PM

No, if you use QT then (unless the program is statically linked - and huge) it will only run on systems with QT installed. You don't need to run KDE to run apps that use the QT toolkit.

lackluster · 07-05-2002, 05:20 PM

COOL! Thanks all. As a side question, which is the easiest/fastest to learn? I'm sure that will only spawn opinion and little fact, so which would be the easiest to learn if I have a windows programming background (or is that even applicatble?)?

dorward · 07-05-2002, 05:34 PM

What language are you used to using? If C then GTK is probably the way to go, if C++ then probably QT.

lackluster · 07-05-2002, 07:17 PM

Either is okay to me, but I guess I prefer C just because it dosen't have all that fancy template crap in my way.