C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3 (Bruce Perens' Open Source Series) (Paperback)

by Jasmin Blanchette (Author), Mark Summerfield (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Many companies are facing problems with Windows development using traditional Windows tools such as Visual Studio. When they write applications, even just "single platform" applications for Windows, they often have to account for differences between different Windows versions, which adds hassle to development and maintenance. Qt works no matter the Windows versions. This book provides all the information needed to become a professional Qt developer. The book also covers cross platform GUI programming--programmers can be working on Windows, Linux, or Mac and the book will work for them. This is useful for commercial companies that use Qt, and for companies that are evaluating Qt. It will also be valuable to the vast number of open source developers who already use Qt since no other book of comparable quality or comprehensiveness is available. This book teaches Qt's idioms and how to use Qt to best advantage. The book is organized into four parts. The first part introduces the C++ necessary for the effective use of Qt. The second part covers basic Qt, starting with some very short examples, and quickly building up to a complete Graphical User Interface program.The second part provides coverage of key Qt features including signals. The third and fourth parts cover more advanced and specialized material.

From the Back Cover

"...not only the best book on Qt I have ever seen, but also the best book presenting any programming framework. Every sentence appears to be carefully worded, and every chapter has a sound concept, and so does the work as a whole." --Matthias Ettrich, Trolltech's lead developer, founder of the KDE project

"The 'Tao of Qt'.... The Qt system is a beautiful example of object oriented design, and the authors take advantage of this.... The authors have done an excellent job of presenting the subject in an interesting and engaging way...." --Ron McCarty, Instructor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College

The first official Trolltech guide to Qt 3.2 programming!

Straight from Trolltech, this book covers all you need to build industrial-strength applications with Qt 3.2.x and C++--applications that run natively on Windows, Linux/Unix, Mac OS X, and embedded Linux with no source code changes! The book teaches solid Qt programming practices; it is not a rehash of the documentation. You'll find start-to-finish coverage packed with examples, plus a CD with the Qt 3.2 toolset and Borland C++ compilers--including a non-commercial Qt 3.2 for Windows available nowhere else!

• Build powerful C++ GUI applications quickly and easily
• Design dialogs and main windows visually and in code
• Learn Qt's innovative typesafe signals and slots mechanism
• Use layouts to create forms that automatically size and scale
• Create custom signals, slots, events, and controls
• Program the ''Qt way'' with techniques for Qt 3.2 that'll work with Qt 4
• Code applications with menus, toolbars, dialogs, and drag and drop
• Utilize 2D and 3D graphics, multithreading, and networking
• Write database and XML applications
• Internationalize to reach foreign markets
• Exploit platform-specific-features like ActiveX

Already using Qt or just starting out? Evaluating Qt or managing it? Building open source applications--or commercial applications? Want to develop for Windows without buying an expensive compiler? Whatever your goal, this is the only book you need!

CD-ROM: Everything you need to write great GUI programs!

• Qt 3.2 Non-Commercial Edition for Windows
• Borland C++ 5.5 Non-Commercial Edition
• Borland C++ 6.0 Trial Edition
• Qt 3.2 Free Editions for Unix/Linux/Mac OS X
• SQLite database
• The book's code examples

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR (January 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131240722
• ISBN-13: 978-0131240728
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #325,594 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good, but could be much better, May 15, 2004

By A Customer

I found myself pretty disappointed with this book contents. From book reviews I read, I expected clean, concise and self-contained explanation of Qt features. The book is indeed covering most of Qt features, but presentation style is - well, confusing. Namely, for the most parts, book chapters are explanations of rather large code fragments, that often have nothing to do with Qt. Reader is thus forced to take non-insignificant effort to understand these parts of code (that are in turn often incomplete, so it is necessary to look-up full source code from CD all the time), so understanding of Qt-specific topics has necessary to be blurred with this. For example, immediately after showing hello-world like program in first chapter, authors are jumping into development of full-blown Excell-like application in next three chapters. While it is indeed still toy application, it is not particularly funny to follow more than 1000 lines of code in this place (much more appropriate would be to have alike examples in later parts of book, once when most of Qt features covered with small and simple examples, or even as appendices). Things are getting worse toward end of book, with full sections of code completely irrelevant to topic. For example, at the end of chapter eight, an example of using OpenGL along with Qt is presented and this application implements picking support that is considered advanced topic even by OpenGL texts. This fragment of code is completely unnecessary, since authors already demonstrated usage of Qt mouse events for interaction with scene when they added support for rotating scene using mouse click-and-drag. Yet, the fragment is there and "explanation" of this code boils down to "you know, it's a bit complicated". Now, luckily I knew OpenGL so I was able to understand this code, but on many other places I had lots of problems to track the code (when reading a book, I really don't like to take any part of sample code for granted, even if I advised in text to do so, because I always have a feeling that I don't understand something later because of this) that really has nothing to do with my learning of Qt. To put it simply, this text is suffering from authors "look how smart our programs are" attitude and this is pity, because it could be really great text only if they opted for more step-by-step approach, as demonstrated regarding GUI programming by Petzold's Programming Windows series (and I hate to state this, I'm UNIX programmer). Still, if one is experienced C++ programmer and already had a contact with Qt (Qt tutorials are far from being perfect, but still good introduction to the world of Qt programming), then he could definitely benefit from this book. Further, as some of reviewers already stated, accompanying CD is invaluable resource because of non-commercial version of Qt 3 for Windows supplied, so overall value for money for this book is good.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid introductory work to Qt, January 30, 2004

By	Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The book nicely introduces and covers a wide variety of Qt topics with real world examples. The first six chapters provide a very solid grounding in Qt. The standout chapters are the first chapter which provides an easy introductory ramp, the third chapter which covers modeless application development by using a spreadsheet as an example, and the sixth chapter which covers layout management. All of the chapters are worthwhile but those stand out as justifying the purchase price of the book. The writing style is clean and fairly terse so the reasonably advanced reader should get it on the first go, while the beginner may need a pass or two.

The shortcomings are minor. There is no reference portion to the book and while I understand that a full reference would add a significant bulk to the book a class reference with brief descriptions for each method would be appreciated. There is one large reference graphic that shows the class structure of the library. Syntax highlighting, especially on the large code fragments, would have been appreciated.

A quality work for anyone looking to develop on Qt, well worth the expense.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A definitive tutorial and reference for Qt 3, January 27, 2004

By	P. Curtis (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First of all, I must say that I pestered Mark hard to write this book. When Mark told me that Trolltech had sanctioned the work and asked me to be one of the external reviewers, I agreed immediately.

This book is an ideal way to ease yourself into the joy of Qt programming. You know you've decided to use Qt because of all the good things you've heard about it around the net, and the buzz it creates. Or perhaps you're writing free software on Linux. Or, perhaps you're like me, and use Qt as a competetive advantage in your day job, not feeling one bit sorry for the MFC programmers of this world. Whatever your motive for using Qt, this is a darn good book to own.

When you start in a new environment, you need a helping hand because you can feel lost. This book guides you by starting with the basics, that of getting a simple Qt program working, and proceeds to expand its use of the Qt framework as you become familiar with your surroundings.

The work takes simple applications and describes, thoroughly, what each section of code does and how it does it. It teaches software reuse by taking components developed early in the book and using them in new applications, extending them as needed.

Qt isn't just about aesthetically pleasing user interfaces: Qt is a real application framework, something that deals with files, sockets, and network programming. This book covers it all. From XML, a vital new technology, using both SAX and DOM models, to network programming using sockets. And, if you're so inclined, a portable way to write OpenGL applications.

This book also presents a behind-the-scenes view of Qt, and takes time to describe the rationale behind the design decisions made by the Trolltech team.

Being completely objective, it would have been nice to enjoy a little more content related to Qt/Embedded and Qtopia, but this is a minor quibble as the target is readers for the desktop product. Who knows, perhaps Mark and Jasmin are already hatching plans to write such a sequel?

When I say that every Qt programmer should own this book, it's true. This book won't be shelfware, it's a book that you can use over and over again. And I'm quite sure that this book will now become standard issue for all Qt courses, wherever they are held.

Well done Mark and Jasmin!