# What's your preferred GUI toolkit?



## Eponasoft (Dec 6, 2008)

Just curious as to what everyone's preference is for GUI toolkits. I personally dislike anything built with GTK or Motif, preferring Qt (so yes, I use KDE and not Gnome).


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## Oko (Dec 7, 2008)

Tcl/Tk


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## lyuts (Dec 7, 2008)

I'm a Qt_and_KDE fan. Some time ago i tried Gnome. But i really didn't liked its look and feel and behavior.


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## susanth (Dec 7, 2008)

What about http://www.wxwidgets.org/ ? 

Am planning to learn this from start.

Please let me know the expert's voice.


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## MartijnAtLico (Dec 7, 2008)

From a programmer's point of view I prefer Qt, from a user's point of view I don't have a preference between Qt and Gtk. The latter has come a long way the last few years.

I also like the simpel archaic X11 tools (xvidtune et al) with their 80's look and feel


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## Eponasoft (Dec 7, 2008)

Oh yeah, I forgot all about wxWidgets.


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## kamikaze (Dec 7, 2008)

I prefer tu use GTK+ with GtkBuilder. Every toolkit has XML support, but I found it easy and fast to learn. And I have bindings into almost any programming language. I can even reuse the XML files if I decide to change the programming language.


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## paulfrottawa (Dec 8, 2008)

susanth said:
			
		

> What about http://www.wxwidgets.org/ ?
> 
> Am planning to learn this from start.
> 
> Please let me know the expert's voice.



I was wondering what you want to build. I'm interested in learning how to home automate/monitor power and such. Also how to build and use a wireless web cam from scratch. ()


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## alik (Dec 11, 2008)

susanth said:
			
		

> What about http://www.wxwidgets.org/ ?
> 
> Am planning to learn this from start.
> 
> Please let me know the expert's voice.



I did some project (for windows) in wxwidgets couple years ago. It is good library, not aimed only for GUI programming, but covers almost all, you can need (database connection, sockets, strings, ...).
If you plan running your program on FreeBSD/Linux/Windows/whatever IMHO wxwidgets is the best choice.
Also there are bindings to other cool languages like Python or Perl.


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## Brandybuck (Dec 11, 2008)

As a professional C++ application developer, let me highly recommend Qt. Nothing else even comes close for C++.

It's not just a toolkit, it's a complete application framework, including files, threading, networks, XML, multimedia, canvas, etc. It's by far the best crossplatform framework. It's signal/slot mechanism is a simple and flexible way to communicate between objects (and thread). Plus great documentation. It also has a sensible Object Oriented API.


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## gullit (Dec 18, 2008)

I really don't mind about it, but as a programmer/desktop environment i like KDE - i don't like the way some distros package it, although.


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## susanth (Jan 12, 2009)

paulfrottawa said:
			
		

> I was wondering what you want to build. I'm interested in learning how to home automate/monitor power and such. Also how to build and use a wireless web cam from scratch. ()



My Interest is Generic. To develop CrossPlatform GUI Applications. e.g. Personal Organizer, Visual Dictionary, ... etc


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## susanth (Jan 12, 2009)

Hi Friends, 

What About Objective C ?

http://www.gnustep.org/

Any Experienced Users Comments will help

Is it good for Developing Cross Platform GUI Applications?

Is it possible to develop Cross Platform Portable NON GUI Applications ?

What About The Ability of Objective C in Replacing PHP for WEB development ?

Also please Quote about the Preferred Compilers.


Thanks in advance Dear FreeBSD Friends


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## Oko (Jan 12, 2009)

susanth said:
			
		

> What About Objective C ?


I think you would be better of asking questions about Objective C
on Mac forums If you are like some of my friends making 
$150 000 coding in Objective C for Apple I bet you would say that
it is best tool on the world.



			
				susanth said:
			
		

> Also please Quote about the Preferred Compilers.



PCC of course although it is not quite usable for general public.
But I am old enough to remember when it was usable
PCC is od course pure C compiler. Using C++ is against my religion.


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## susanth (Jan 12, 2009)

Oko said:
			
		

> ...Using C++ is against my religion.



Dear Friend,

Thank you very much for your valuable comments.

From your other responses, i understood that you are against C++;
Could you please explain what make you think so?

I join your view of "C focused" -  in case of OS & other System Programming. But what about Considering C++ in Application Development area ?

And is there anything bad with OOPs ?

I also like to know your view of Objective C in Application development compared to C++;


Thanks in advance


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## vermaden (Jan 12, 2009)

I prefer GTK2 or anything GTK2 based (PyGTK for example).

I stay away from QT3/QT4 as far as possible, my only QT apps are is Opera (maybe some day they will add GTK2 build) and VirtualBox GUI (there is also GTK2 frontend written in GTK2 but its little less functional then the QT one).


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## ephemera (Jan 12, 2009)

Qt4:beer


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## Oko (Jan 12, 2009)

susanth said:
			
		

> Dear Friend,
> 
> Thank you very much for your valuable comments.
> 
> ...



If you Google you can easily find a whole list of things which are wrong with C++. C is also not perfect. You can Google about the birth of ADA programming language. 
You can also find the Unix Haters Handbook with very accurate descriptions of what is wrong with Unix. That still however 
doesn't prevent me from using Unix and using C so my comments should not prevent you of using C++ or any tool you find appropriate for that matter.



			
				susanth said:
			
		

> I join your view of "C focused" -  in case of OS & other System Programming. But what about Considering C++ in Application Development area ?
> 
> And is there anything bad with OOPs ?
> 
> I also like to know your view of Objective C in Application development compared to C++;



I do not make living as a coder. I was not joking when I said that you are better off asking people on MAC forums, preferably Apple developers.

Cheers,
OKO


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## Brandybuck (Jan 12, 2009)

It also depends on what you want to do. If all you want is to slap up a quick dialog to get a yes/no answer from the user, then any toolkit is fine. But I suspect you want more.

If you need to write custom widgets, then your choice of toolkits make a huge difference. For some toolkits, writing custom widgets are very difficult (Motif, wxWidgets), but for others they are a easy (Qt).

Your best bet will be either GTK+ or Qt. My preference is definitely towards Qt, but you need to make up your own mind. The best way to find out is to use both. Write a small app using both, and see what is easier for you, what feels more natural, etc.


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## vigol (Dec 16, 2009)

I'm posting from The Lynx. I hope it be readable.
Is there any GUI Toolkit/Library (Developement Environment as a whole)
that has a Licence similar to BSD Licence ? Both Qt && GTK
have their problems (Soure/Commercial fee..)
Thanks


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## graudeejs (Dec 16, 2009)

devel/upp - released under BSD license


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## FRANCOIS (Dec 16, 2009)

eponasoft said:
			
		

> just curious as to what everyone's preference is for gui toolkits. I personally dislike anything built with gtk or motif, preferring qt (so yes, i use kde and not gnome).



ruby/tk


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## crsd (Dec 16, 2009)

Gtk2


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## graudeejs (Dec 16, 2009)

I prefer QT over GTK2


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## vigol (Dec 16, 2009)

thanks killasmurf86 for devel/upp, and FRANCOIS for ruby/tk,
I'll check devel/upp for libs & ruby for Learning curve
I personally prefer QT, but currently, I used to GTK+.
I hope ruby || upp be as effective/rich as perl/c/c++.
I'll check these out.
THANKS


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## kpedersen (Dec 16, 2009)

GTKmm is what I use for my day to day work.

Also... I have "ported" Borland Kylix (Like Borland C++Builder 6) to my FreeBSD linux compatibility layer and I love it! Its GUI library (vcl) is really neat.
Unfortunately it will not be updated because Borland abandoned it a while ago!

And yes, I only code in c++ for my GUIs. IMO it makes more sense such as Button objects etc... I am currently coding my own gui library (based on OpenGL) to simulate Javax.swing but currently I have no portable way to do callbacks in c++ without using sig++. ATM I use some inline assembily to call a method pointer but I tend to believe this could be done in a much better way... much better... lol


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## roddierod (Dec 16, 2009)

kpedersen said:
			
		

> Also... I have "ported" Borland Kylix (Like Borland C++Builder 6) to my FreeBSD linux compatibility layer and I love it! Its GUI library (vcl) is really neat.
> Unfortunately it will not be updated because Borland abandoned it a while ago!



How did you manage do that? Does the Delphi part work? Interested because when Kylix came out I tried for months to get it to work on FreeBSD but nothing....


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## kpedersen (Dec 17, 2009)

I havn't tried the delphi stuff.

Basically I found a zip file on the internet containing some hacks to get it working on newer Linux distros so I simply applied them.

I will PM you the zip as soon as I can get to my external hard drive.


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## roddierod (Dec 18, 2009)

Ok, thanks.


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## vivek (Dec 21, 2009)

QT as I know C/C++, it is easy with QTEditor.


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## fronty (Dec 25, 2009)

If CDE was still active platform, I would say Motif. I just love CDE and Motif. But nowadays I'm "forced" to use Qt (+ KDE). IMO Gtk is just horrible. :s


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## bigearsbilly (Jan 8, 2010)

yes fronty I use to like dtbuilder and xdesigner too.
CDE was better than that sh*te java desktop you get with solaris now.

has anyone mentioned fltk?
it's dead easy (c++) with a nifty gui builder (fluid).
simple stuff only but quick and easy.


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