[prog] APIs for dummies?

Anthony Gorecki anthony at vsdtech.com
Wed Sep 17 21:08:55 EST 2003


For linux, there are two major graphical API's you can choose from. The first 
of which is GTK (whose flagship application is GIMP), and the second is Qt. 
GTK is free regardless of what you want to use it for, but you'll have to 
shell out a license fee to trolltech if you want to use Qt for non-personal 
applications.

I know what you mean about being somewhat clueless when it comes to API's. I 
spent a long time debating which one to use, and finally settled on Qt for 
the sake of simplicity. If you're a user of KDE, you're already familiar with 
Qt, even if you don't realize it, as that is what drives the desktop. Gnome 
on the other hand uses GTK. Both have similar features and operate on the 
same basic principles, but I've found that GTK requires significantly more 
effort to achieve the same results.

Trolltech.net, the Qt homepage, has a moderately sized tutorial that should 
get you going with the basics you need to start on API's. They also provide 
an easy-to-use API designer if you don't want to code all the windows 
manually.

On Wednesday 17 September 2003 8:58 pm, Michelle Murrain wrote:
> Now that I have taken care of my CVS woes by a combination of using
> varied advice (thanks all!) and a bit of sweat, I have a new question.
>
> Does anyone have a good reference for beginning API programming? I have
> a large project (a collection of web applications) that I am currently
> refactoring pretty heavily, and I want to create APIs for some other
> applications that I've written (and apps to be written by me or others)
> to tie into the project neatly, and I want to create some standard APIs,
> but I really don't know what the hell I'm doing, since I've never
> created APIs before (and, in truth, haven't even used them much,
> either).
>
> Any web references, or a good book would be great. Thanks!

-- 
Best Regards,

Anthony Gorecki
VSD Technologies


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