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On Thursday 24 April 2003 11:14 am, Matt Thoren wrote:
> I saw the post for a QT/KDE developer and I have to ask what QT/KDE
> gives you over simply using
> vi, make, gdb, X-Motif.

Ever try to teach a die-hard win32 programmer use to visual c++ and it's 
environment vi, make, gdb? It's hard, kdevelop eases the pain for these type 
people. At the same time, I can still use emacs, make, gdb with in a kdevelop 
project.

I've done a lot of Motif (lesstif) development. Works great if the language of 
implementation is C, not so great when the language is C++. 

I also consider Motif an "old" generation UI framework. Modern UI frameworks 
like GTK and QT have much more flexiblity and power. Simple things like 
network transparency are missing from Motif (as in saving a file on local 
hard drive or on a ftp server).

Lastly, Motif is not open source. There are requirements of this project to be 
able to build everything from source. Yes, we could do LessTif, but lets 
ignore that for now :-)

> I realize that someone has convinced the customer already to go down
> this path, but is this is a trend?

I can only hope. 

Having done a large project in gtk, I can say qt steps all over gtk from a 
developer standpoint. Signals and slots are amazingly powerful. The qt 
framework is much more mature and thought out imho then most other frameworks 
out there.

> What about the cost of business use licensing of QT?  

QT is GPL. I'm assuming you mean cost as in money here right? GPL = free as in 
no money. So, what cost is there?

> Why tie the code to KDE?

Why tie it to gtk, motif, athena, aqua, sunview, openview... 

If you develop mostly QT, you aren't  tyeing the application to KDE. QT is 
available for OSX, BeOS, Windows.

> Why not Java?

Personally, java swing sucks. Java has a terrible UI. There are also 
requirements on this current project that prevent usage of Java.

> Just curious as to what other are thinking about development within
> linux.   Wouldn't linux go farther faster with standards that business
> and industry can grasp and have some confidence in finding people who
> know how to maintain their developed code?

You mean standards like Visual C++ and MFC? :-)

C++ is a standard correct? I believe Java is not a standard (yet). I think any 
compentent C++ programmer could pickup (and love!) QT. Since QT and KDE are 
GPL the source code is all there, so it should be easy to find a C++ 
developer who can maintain the code. Given, a few days of learning QT, of 
course.

> There seems to be to many integrated desktop environments to keep up
> with.   Can I suggest vi, make, and some debugger(gdb,DB,debugger,etc)?

Sure! But the main reason I like linux is the -freedom- of choice to use 
different tools that fit my needs.

But see the above. vi, make, gdb are not user friendly and the learning curve 
is steep, especially for most Win32 developers. Kdevelop is the primary tool 
for KDE develop, but uses all the familiar things  that linux people are use 
to, so other members of the team are using kdevelop, I can still use 
emacs/make/gdb.

- -- 
Bob Tanner <tanner at real-time.com>         | Phone : (952)943-8700
http://www.mn-linux.org, Minnesota, Linux | Fax   : (952)943-8500
Key fingerprint = AB15 0BDF BCDE 4369 5B42  1973 7CF1 A709 2CC1 B288
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