Author: Daniel Molkentin

Format: Paperback, 440 pages

Publisher: No Starch Press (July 19, 2007)

ISBN-10: 1593271476

ISBN-13: 978-1593271473



Review by James Pyles

October 18, 2007



One of the 'holy grails' of software development is the ability to write a program that will operate across platforms without you (the coder) having to rewrite for each platform. Enter Qt 4, a toolkit used largely for developing GUI applications for Linux, UNIX, Mac, and Windows. Qt 4 seems to fit the bill and be the answer to this 'crusade', but can the same be said about 'The Book of QT 4'?



Qt 4 (the decendent of the original Qt which was released in 1995), is an open source project used to develop high-quality widgets of just about every kind you can imagine. The Qt toolkit is still very much a community project (though it must be purchased from Trolltech under a standard or commercial license) in that the world of developers talk to the Trolltech engineers about Qt 4 and Trolltech listens and answers. Qt 4 responds to a lot of needs and perhaps answers a lot of prayers in making software development as fun as it ought to be. That said, let's find out if Daniel Molkentin's book does it justice.



There's got to be a better way than to code C++ in source and to code for multiple platforms. There is, of course. Develop using Qt 4. Sounds simple, but if you expect to be able to get the most out of this text, it is best that you have a background in C++ development or at least a familiarity in the language. The book's introduction further suggests the reader understand concepts such as pointers and templates and knows something about the overloading of operators. Code examples given in the book are also C++ so there's no way around this prerequisite.



Since Qt 4 is open source, I expect it to be right at home on a Linux, UNIX, and even a Mac environment but fear not, it is as easily installed on Windows for those who develop for Microsoft platforms. In fact, the book starts off with these basics and includes the first bit of code you'll encounter. You learn to compile a program, compile a project, and proceed to the subject of signals and slots. While the experienced programmer will feel right at home, if you open this book and feel a tad lost, you haven't 'earned your stripes' yet.



Most of the target audience has probably already encountered some of the bits and pieces provided by this book but what 'The Book of QT 4' does is provide the entire picture of this development toolkit, filling in whatever you might have missed.



Once you get through the preliminaries and have Qt 4 up and running, you get to take a brief tour of it's abilities. Past that, you get into the details including tools for creating dialogs, using the Qt designer, laying out widgets, and more. Each chapter in the book and each section within a chapter is presented in a completely orderly fashion. The writing is simple yet elegent and both concept and practical examples are well represented.



If you are a Qt developer who is looking to round out your knowledge base, this book will connect all of the dots and leave you with a complete picture. If you are a C++ developer or student and have been considering GUI application development using a cross-platform solution, look no further than "The Book of QT 4". Daniel Molkentin has written a book that will satisfy you all.

Title: The Book of QT 4: The Art of Building QT Applications
Category: Open Source
Sub-Category: Programming Books
Author: James Pyles
Added: October 18th 2007
Viewed: 7961 Times
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