![]() It is good to see that Trolltech has created a rich API that not only provides graphical widgets, but also provides a number classes that make the day to day tasks of programming it a little bit easier. In addition to these basic classes there are also classes to handle networking, sockets, file transfer, sound, and many other aspects of software development. Qt provides a number of these classes to support Arrays, Strings, Vectors, Maps, and many more types. One of the most critical set of features are the convenience classes for handling data and types. In addition to these graphical components, Qt includes a number of additional features. In addition to these elements, there are special dialog boxes (such as a file picker, about box, etc.) and facilities that save the developer from having to re-implement these functions over and over. Qt includes widgets (the equivalent of Controls) for buttons, checkboxes, radio buttons, tabs, icon panes, canvases, dialog boxes, and other common interface elements. The first and most basic set of functionality is for creating graphical interfaces. I have been familiar with Qt as a product since the release of the first version, and each major release has put more and more functionality under the hood. Before we get onto the cross platform nature of Qt, however, let us first look at what Qt can do and what is available in it. Sounds great in theory, but does it work? We will investigate this later in the article. The concept here is that the source code remains the same for each platform version of Qt, so to create a binary for another platform, you just recompile using the Qt for that platform. The actual cross platform nature of Qt is largely a feature of its Application Programming Interface (API). The speed implications for the application are therefore drastically improved, and large applications should work, theoretically, as fast as any other native software, with the added benefits of Qt's cross platform source code. This means that when you create a Qt application and compile it, a native binary is created to run on each specific operating system. "Nothing new there" I hear you scream, citing Java as an example, but Qt offers a slightly different method of creating graphical applications. This way those of you familiar with Qt can find out what is new in 3.2.2, and those not can get a perspective on the whole Qt toolkit, and its features. Although I will be discussing many different features, not all of them are specific to the new 3.2.2 version I will discuss specific features in this new version towards the end of the article. I will assume you have never used Qt before, and so will evaluate the different aspects of the Qt system. In this article I will be reviewing the latest version of Qt available at the time of writing, version 3.2.2. They state that Qt can make the "Code Less. In this article, I will review a toolkit that is rapidly growing in reputation and ability Qt, the flagship product from Norwegian company Trolltech. ![]() These tools include compilers, debuggers, development environments, profilers, and, of course, graphical toolkits. ![]() In the software development world, there are many tools and services available to help developers maximise their application development cycle, and squeeze every bit of functionality out of their products.
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