Programming Languages mini-HOWTOPrevious
Contents
The standard graphical subsystem for UNIX and Linux, called X,
has its own libraries for GUI development. They provide a
low-level programming interface to X, but tend to be hard to
use. Old end-user applications and other toolkits of course make
good use of them. Nowadays the Linux GUI scene is dominated by
GTK+ and Qt, since two popular, complete user environments - GNOME
and KDE - are based on them.
- Library
Common name or abbreviation of the toolkit.
- Beginner
Whether the toolkit is suitable for a newbie programmer.
- License
Different licenses for different GUI toolkits have practical
significance. GTK+, TK and GNUstep licenses allow you to develop both open
source and closed source applications without paying for a
license. Motif license requires payment, while the QT license
requires payment only if you write closed source programs.
- Language
The language that is most often used with the toolkit.
- Bindings
Other languages which can use the toolkit.
- Examples
Applications that use the toolkit.
- Comments
Additional information on the toolkit.
Library | Beginner | License | Language | Bindings | Examples | Comments | |
TK | Yes | Free | TCL | Perl, Python, others | make xconfig, TKDesk | | |
GTK+ | No | Free (LGPL) | C | Perl, C++, Python, many others | GNOME, Gimp | Very popular | |
QT | No | Free for open source | C++ | Python, Perl, C, others? | KDE | Very popular | |
Motif | No | Non-free | C/C++ | Python, others? | Netscape, Wordperfect |
Lesstif isa free replacement | |
GNUstep | No | Free (LGPL) | Objective C | Guile, Java? | None widely known, but see the
application list | GNUstep is still under development | |
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