C++ GUI Programming with Qt4 (2nd Edition)

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Authors: Jasmin Blanchette and Mark Summerfield
Format: Hardcover, 452 pages
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR; 2nd edition ( February 14, 2008 )
ISBN-10: 0132354160
ISBN-13: 978-0132354165

Review by James Pyles
March 20, 2008

Think of Qt (pronounced "cute") as a toolkit. In fact, according to Wikipedia, Qt is "a cross-platform application development framework, widely used for the development of GUI programs (in which case it is known as a Widget toolkit), and also used for developing non-GUI programs such as console tools and servers. Qt is most notably used in KDE, the web browser Opera, Google Earth, Skype, Qtopia, Photoshop Elements and OPIE". I suppose if you needed that definition to tell you what Qt is, then maybe this book isn't for you. On the other hand, read on.

This book is as much (or more) about the Qt 4 framework as it is about C++ programming and in fact, may appeal to those who are or are about to become biased towards Qt. Development frameworks can have followers much like political parties or Linux desktops (Gnome or KDE, anyone?). For some, it's a matter of philosophy or even emotion and for some, there are specific, technical reasons for preferring one "toolkit" over another. To quote the book's Foreword, "Qt is different, For one thing, Qt makes sense. And for another, Qt is fun. Qt lets you concentrate on tasks..." Ok, enough of that. We get the idea. Qt is the preferred development platform for the authors. Otherwise, why would they write this textbook (and it is a "textbook" specifically...it has a hardcover to prove it)?

Qt isn't limited to C++ as you might imagine. In fact, bindings exist for several other languages including Ada, C#, Java, Perl, PHP, Ruby, and Python (and my review of the Python book analogous to this one is waiting in the wings). I say this so that you don't imagine that the focus of the Qt platform is particularly limited or that it doesn't have something to offer you.

Down to business, then. Who should read this book? The target audience is assumed to have a basic knowledge in C++, C# or Java. You can have experience in the latter two languages, but if you have little or no familiarity with C++, the authors don't shun you. They just redirect you to start with Appendix D rather than Chapter 1 since the appendix is called "Introduction to C++ for Java and C# Programmers". Bottom line is that it's best to be a professional programmer with those languages in your background, or at least a programming student who has learned or is learning those languages.

As I said before, the book is as much or more about Qt as about programming GUI apps in C++. Hence Chapter 1 being called "Getting Started" and the first section of that chapter being titled "Hello Qt" (I know..."Hello, cute"...sounds like a come on line...but I digress). A friend of mine in London rants that all programming books he's encountered spend the first 50 pages or more talking about the importance of arrays but teaching little or nothing about how to actually program. The counter argument has to do with just how important it is to understand the role of arrays, but I must admit, I too would rather get my hands dirty early in the game. Fortunately, you can do that with this book.

Developing GUI apps in Qt is pretty much like grabbing a wrench and a screwdriver and building the special gadget of your dreams in your garage or shop. Ok, maybe not quite. But programmatically building widgets, dialogs, and such gives you (or at least me) the same sort of feeling. The first 5 chapters are contained in something called "Basic Qt" and from the start, you find yourself in the process of actively creating. In essence, the book takes you from the position of beginner, to intermediate, to advanced Qt developer as you progress through the pages, all with the use of the language of your choice (assuming it's C++ in this case).

I mentioned earlier that Qt is something of a "platform for all seasons" in terms of programming languages but that's also true for operating system platforms. Whether you use Windows, Mac OS X, X11, Linux, or UNIX, getting and using Qt 4 is no problem (see Appendix A for details).

I have a stack of books on the floor of my office begging to be reviewed and some have been sitting there for months. While the Blanchette and Summerfield book is certainly worthy, why did I choose to review this book now, when others have been waiting longer? Actually, my contact at Prentice Hall recently suggested that I access some of the books I want to review through Safari and suggested I start with this book. When I told her that the book had already arrived at my doorstep via FedEx, she thought that accessing it both as a hardcopy and through Safari might be an interesting experience.

So here I am, with a copy of the book in my lap and another one on my monitor. I have to say that reviewing a book is easier from the hardcopy. For one thing, I can flip through pages in a fraction of the time that it takes to go from loading one page to the next in my web browser. On the other hand, a web experience is so much more flexible. On any given page in Safari, if I scroll down a bit, I'll find suggestions for sections of completely different (but related books) under "Additional Reading". It's also quite a bit easier to copy and paste code on the web than to copy manually from the hardcopy.

I hate to split the difference, but I can see advantages to using both...not either, but both. I suppose my perspective is rather naive in terms of regular Safari users, but I spent the vast majority of my educational and career experience learning primarily from hardcopy information sources. That said, about the best I can adapt to the idea of different information presentation schemes, is to say that, depending on what I'm doing and what and how I'm trying to learn, I'd rather have the option of choosing "all" as opposed to selecting one or the other (sounds like James Bond's family motto and the title of a film: The World is Not Enough).