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C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4 (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development Series)

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Authors: Jasmin Blanchette, Mark Summerfield
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

20 reviews
Sales Rank: 42531

Media: Hardcover
Edition: 2
Pages: 752
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.7
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 7.2 x 1.7

ISBN: 0132354160
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.133
EAN: 9780132354165
ASIN: 0132354160

Publication Date: February 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Also Available In:

•	Kindle Edition - C++ GUI Programming with Qt4

The Only Official, Best-Practice Guide to Qt 4.3 Programming

Using Trolltech's Qt you can build industrial-strength C++ applications that run natively on Windows, Linux/Unix, Mac OS X, and embedded Linux without source code changes. Now, two Trolltech insiders have written a start-to-finish guide to getting outstanding results with the latest version of Qt: Qt 4.3.

Packed with realistic examples and in-depth advice, this is the book Trolltech uses to teach Qt to its own new hires. Extensively revised and expanded, it reveals today's best Qt programming patterns for everything from implementing model/view architecture to using Qt 4.3's improved graphics support. You'll find proven solutions for virtually every GUI development task, as well as sophisticated techniques for providing database access, integrating XML, using subclassing, composition, and more. Whether you're new to Qt or upgrading from an older version, this book can help you accomplish everything that Qt 4.3 makes possible.

Completely updated throughout, with significant new coverage of databases, XML, and Qtopia embedded programming

Covers all Qt 4.2/4.3 changes, including Windows Vista support, native CSS support for widget styling, and SVG file generation

Contains separate 2D and 3D chapters, coverage of Qt 4.3's new graphics view classes, and an introduction to QPainter's OpenGL back-end

Includes new chapters on look-and-feel customization and application scripting

Illustrates Qt 4's model/view architecture, plugin support, layout management, event processing, container classes, and much more

Presents advanced techniques covered in no other book—from creating plugins to interfacing with native APIs

Includes a new appendix on Qt Jambi, the new Java version of Qt

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 1-5 of 20

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Without a doubt the best place to start with Qt February 1, 2010
sublimemm
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

This book is fantastic, probably the best programming book I have ever read. I didn't even know c/c++ when I started reading (Java developer), but lo! and behold, there is an appendix for Java/c# developers to teach them how to use c++. I have read the book cover to cover and had absolutely no problems understanding any of the concepts in the book. I didn't need to reread anything. I am not sure what some of the other reviewers are talking about; maybe it is because I am familiar with Swing and .Net gui development and the concepts are basically the same. The parts in particular about slots and signals mentioned below I felt was done extremely well. I don't know how other programmers learn, but I learn by seeing some code in action then piecing together what it does line by line. If that isn't how you learn, I would get a different book.

This book is organized like this,

brief intro to a topic
code example of topic
line/group of lines by line explanation of code. Here they explain both the big and little pictures, "signals are used for ... and here is how you connect them in the code... here are some reasons to use signals... etc"
brief outro of a topic

I really can't say how perfect this book is, it is perfect. I went from not knowing c++ to writing professional looking apps in a weekend. I am not saying that will be the case for everyone (obviously look at the other guy's review, sounds like he couldn't figure out how to compile his code...). Keep in mind, as I've mentioned I have been programming for years in Swing and .Net, so I would definitely say I had a head start for understanding the concepts which Qt was built on.

P.S. Qt is pronounced "cute".

5 out of 5 stars

Great Jump Start December 22, 2009
Charles E. Mcknight
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I've recently had a need to create some cross-platform applications and decided to look at Qt. While the Qt web site provides a great deal of information, I found this text to be a very readable way to quickly come up to speed on creating applications with Qt. Summerfield's prose moves the reader quickly from point to point with a series of short example programs and detailed breakdowns of hows and whys. I also own copies of other Summerfield books, and I've quite enjoyed the rapid learning experience they provide. The Python books (Learning Python / Programming Python / Programming in Python 3) provide more than enough detail for the experienced developer and gently take the novice forward as well. I'm looking forward to the upcoming Advanced Qt Programming book to continue to dive deeper into Qt development.

5 out of 5 stars

Great introduction for advanced programmers November 20, 2009
M. Henri De Feraudy (France)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

If you have never developped GUI applications using object oriented techniques I would reccommend you stay away from this book it jumps into the details too quickly.
Try Foundations of Qt® Development (Expert's Voice in Open Source) instead. Sooner or later, you'll have to have this book, though, to get you to the next level. There seems to be room for yet another book which discusses the organisation of the Qt libraries.
But if you have experience in other frameworks (like .NET) then this can be a very good book. The style is very tight, with plenty of sample code, and you can get many applications going by just following the code and adapting it to your needs. I got my windowing application with menus and toolbars in an evening by just following a chapter in this book.
It is not a reference book, but it is closer to that than the other books I have seen. Still the Qt Reference is good.

I'm surprised that some other reviewer said that Qt is disorganised compared to Java. Maybe it's because I'm thinking of my experiences with Java a long time ago, but I remember thinking that Java Libraries were all over the place. However C++ is a very complicated language, and I guess Java is much easier to get into.

5 out of 5 stars

A nice companion to the Qt Assistant November 8, 2009
Arent Arntzen (Trondheim Norway)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This review is based on the first printing June 2006. Qt has notched up some minor versions since that, but for the purposes of this evaluation that makes little difference. C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4 is divided into three numbered sections, Basic,Intermediate and Advanced. In total it is comprised of 21 chapters covering topics from the venerable "hello world", via common GUI elements, graphics, XML, databases to internationalization and multithreaded programming. Many of the elements needed to put together a fully fledged application are given the first and basic coverage. The book has a very nice form factor and can easily be read in bed or brought along if you are traveling. I find the language used very comprehensible and "light" in a positive sense. There is quite an abundance of code snippets to examplify things. You may or may not like that. However, code is after all what it all boils down to so for me that was fine. Also, it is good to get introduced to c++/Qt oriented code. If you end up working with Qt one thing that you will be doing is to browse the sourcecode of Qt hunting for techniques and solutions. Therefore, being able to quickly read and understand C++ the Qt way is a good skill to have, and one that you might as well start to learn reading the book. I have read most parts of the book more than once. However, my best experience was with chapter 18 "Multithreading". I needed to implement a particular part of the application I was working on as a multithreaded piece. I was able to "lift" all necessary ingredients from chapter 18 and directly into a nicely working piece (that has kept me happy for more than two years after). However, you should keep in mind that the book is only an introductory text even if it has the "intermediate" and "advanced" parts. So you might say that the "Advanced" part is really an introduction to some advanced Qt topics from a very basic level. At least one of the authors of the book (Jasmin Blanchette and Mark Summerfield) has played a major role in creating the documentation for Qt, naming of classes etc. In my opinion the Qt naming scheme in conjunction with the documentation using theQt Assistant is quite fantastic. If you can guess a name for what you are trying to do and type in in the assistant you will most likely find that is the name used by Qt. But at first you need a lightweight introduction and the book is a very nice basic introduction to Qt for someone that seriously wants to or has to work with Qt. You need at least a passing knowledge of object programming to benefit from the book. In that case you will read through this book in a few hours and it fits in your travel pack. It will arm you with a certain overview that is indispensable as you hit Qt hard later on. It does have a couple of appendixes too. One concerns installation. That should be a breeze by now anyway. The other is an introduction to C++ for Java and C# programmers. If you are looking for a much more advanced text, one that you can use to architect that serious application related stuff in depth you should buy "An introduction to design patterns in C++ with Qt 4" by Alan and Paul Ezust along with the book by Blanchette and Summerfield.

3 out of 5 stars

OO problems October 19, 2009
Neuron (Finland)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I realize its difficult to make examples that appeal to everybody. This book have some very good example ideas, but often lack in execution. Having spent the last few years with Java & C# it annoys me a lot that C++ programmers still continue to place a lot of initialization code into main(). In this book, eg. in chapter 5 the authors creates a custom plotter widget, that would be very useful as an example if it wasn't half made. Remember that Qt is OO and then you don't require the user to modify the class initialization in order to use the class. Every class needs to be able to stand on its own and initializations come in the constructor.

Like a previous reviewer I would also like to see a Qt book that doesn't follow the exact same topic layout as the official manual, variety is always good.

I'd like to end with saying that this is good book, however there is a bit too much information in some of the lengthy examples. If you manage to get through the chapters though, I'm sure you're well set up for a job as a Qt programmer.

Showing reviews 1-5 of 20

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