The popular open source KDE desktop environment for Unix was built with Qt, a C++ class library for writing GUI applications that run on Unix, Linux, Windows 95/98, Windows 2000, and Windows NT platforms. Qt emulates the look and feel of Motif, but is much easier to use. Best of all, after you have written an application with Qt, all you have to do is recompile it to have a version that works on Windows. Qt also emulates the look and feel of Windows, so your users get native-looking interfaces. Platform independence is not the only benefit. Qt is flexible and highly optimized. You'll find that you need to write very little, if any, platform-dependent code because Qt already has what you need. And Qt is free for open source and Linux development. Although programming with Qt is straightforward and feels natural once you get the hang of it, the learning curve can be steep. Qt comes with excellent reference documentation, but beginners often find the included tutorial is not enough to really get started with Qt. That's where Programming with Qt steps in. You'll learn how to program in Qt as the book guides you through the steps of writing a simple paint application. Exercises with fully worked out answers help you deepen your understanding of the topics. The book presents all of the GUI elements in Qt, along with advice about when and how to use them, so you can make full use of the toolkit. For seasoned Qt programmers, there's also lots of information on advanced 2D transformations, drag-and-drop, writing custom image file filters, networking with the new Qt Network Extension, XML processing, Unicode handling, and more. Programming with Qt helps you get the most out of this powerful, easy-to-use, cross-platform toolkit. It's been completely updated for Qt Version 3.0 and includes entirely new information on rich text, Unicode/double byte characters, internationalization, and network programming.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 14 Ratings

Very good book - 2003-10-27
Reviewer Rating:
I am new to Linux programming (I'm a .Net developer) and was a bit frustrated with the online tutorials for Qt and decided to give this book a try. I am very happy with the decision, this book is very well written. I like the style of the author, giving us some practical exercises after each topic, so we can improve the application he develops throughout the book (a "paintbrush"). Now that I understood the basics I can use the Qt documentation to do my own apps.

People who like those huge, "step-by-step" ("click File->Quit to exit the application...") books might be a bit disappointed with this one though, the author assumes that the reader knows some C++ and can figure out some stuff by himself/herself, so be warned. Not that he skips any information needed, but he doesn't repeat the same thing 10x either, so you gotta be a bit "smart" to read this book.

Good, if outdated, introduction to Qt - 2005-11-01
Reviewer Rating:
Book starts out strong, and was helpful as an introduction for Qt. However, it seems to cut out about 350 pages in, putting subjects such as "Focus Handling" in its own 3 page chapter, rather than integrating it into an existing chapter. That said, the Portability chapter, which includes a list of Qt functions that are not portable, was a valuable addition.

Keep in mind, the 2nd edition of Programming for Qt was written for Qt 3. At the time of this review, the latest version of Qt is version 4. This is a problem because Trolltech appears to reinvent the wheel for each major version. While the author had me salivating at the thought of a QStyleSheet, checking the API docs for Qt 4 QStyleSheet is now a deprecated class, and as far as I can tell there is no current equivalent.

One aspect I wish the author had covered in more detail is the actual compiling and linking of applications that use Qt. I'm starting to get the impression that Trolltech's dirty little secret is that while their API is both clean and thorough, the signal/slot method is overly reliant on #defines, and the developer has to compile and link as many as twice the number of files to make it function. Trolltech includes a program 'qmake' almost as a bandaid which will generate Makefiles that will then automatically generate and compile the extra 'moc' files. The problem is that if you're porting an application to Qt, you're likely to have existing makefiles. Adding the additional layer of qmake and it's .pro files is both cumbersome and not actually necessary. While you can certainly figure out on your own how to avoid using qmake, it would have been helpful if the book described the functionality of the qmake-generated makefiles. This would help developers porting to Qt to include that functionality in their existing makefiles.

Still a useful learning tool. - 2007-02-01
Reviewer Rating:

Good but not enough - 2005-08-18
Reviewer Rating:
Not enough examples und for beginners as I am, too many questions. Betterone is "Das Qt Buch" in german. This ise tehe bestone what I have ever seen.

Usefull but somewhat outdated - 2007-11-17
Reviewer Rating:
This book gives you a relatively quick and easy introduction to using Qt. You should know the fundamentals of C++ programming to benefit from the book. However, if you seriously want to get into using Qt are several much more up to date titles that also comes with a more modern and appetizing style. I bought this item because I have been using Qt for some time (Qt really rocks!) and went in to get all the books without critically reviewing before buying.

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