GUI Programming with C?

[Jesse B.]

I've been learning how to program with C, and I can't find any info about
GUI programming with C. I'm almost done with O'reilly's Practical
programming with C, and would like to mess around with GUI programming with
C. I understand that it's easier to move to C++ or a few other languages
(namely GTK+ or QT), but I'd like to stick with just C for awhile so I don't
get too confused. I've been told that I should stick with a language for
awhile and make sure I know it inside and out before I move on. I also think
that I could learn alot about C and my hardware if I were to dabble with GUI
programming using C.

If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be very greatful.

[Ben Pfaff]

Re: GUI Programming with C?

"Jesse B." <jakle131@adelp hia.net> writes:
[color=blue]
> I've been learning how to program with C, and I can't find any info about
> GUI programming with C.[/color]

Your question is outside the domain of comp.lang.c, which discusses
only the standard C programming language, including the standard C
library. This is a remarkably narrow topic compared to what many
people expect.

For your convenience, the list below contains topics that are not
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[Rakesh Kumar]

Re: GUI Programming with C?



Jesse B. wrote:
[color=blue]
> I've been learning how to program with C, and I can't find any info about
> GUI programming with C. I'm almost done with O'reilly's Practical
> programming with C, and would like to mess around with GUI programming with
> C. I understand that it's easier to move to C++ or a few other languages
> (namely GTK+ or QT), but I'd like to stick with just C for awhile so I don't
> get too confused. I've been told that I should stick with a language for
> awhile and make sure I know it inside and out before I move on.[/color]
Whoever told it got it right. So the moment you are comfortable with
all the nitty-gritties of the language, all you would need to start on a
GUI programming is to have

- a good API documentation
- a wide vareity of samples
- specific newsgroups / mailing lists for the toolkit.

I am pretty sure that both GTK and QT satisfy all the three. (Though
personally I would prefer a newsgroup to a mailing list).

On the other hand, if you want to do serious graphics programming, i
would say it is an entirely different domain, that is. You need to start
with some standard API - OpenGL, DirectX (all of them are beyond the
scope of c.l.c , though specific newsgroups do exist for them ).
All the best.

--
Rakesh Kumar
** Remove nospamplz from my email address for my real email **

[E. Robert Tisdale]

Re: GUI Programming with C?

Jesse B. wrote:
[color=blue]
> I've been learning how to program with C
> and I can't find any info about GUI programming with C.[/color]

I used Google

http://www.google.com/

to search for

+"GUI" +"C programming"

and I found lots of stuff.

[Mabden]

Re: GUI Programming with C?


"Jesse B." <jakle131@adelp hia.net> wrote in message
news:gtCdnSgjtN rfkRrdRVn-sw@adelphia.com ...[color=blue]
> I've been learning how to program with C, and I can't find any info[/color]
about[color=blue]
> GUI programming with C. I'm almost done with O'reilly's Practical
> programming with C, and would like to mess around with GUI programming[/color]
with[color=blue]
> C. I understand that it's easier to move to C++ or a few other[/color]
languages[color=blue]
> (namely GTK+ or QT), but I'd like to stick with just C for awhile so I[/color]
don't[color=blue]
> get too confused. I've been told that I should stick with a language[/color]
for[color=blue]
> awhile and make sure I know it inside and out before I move on. I also[/color]
think[color=blue]
> that I could learn alot about C and my hardware if I were to dabble[/color]
with GUI[color=blue]
> programming using C.
>
> If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be very greatful.
>
>[/color]

Books by Charles Petzold for Windows.

--
Mabden

[Dan Pop]

Re: GUI Programming with C?

In <gtCdnSgjtNrfkR rdRVn-sw@adelphia.com > "Jesse B." <jakle131@adelp hia.net> writes:
[color=blue]
>I've been learning how to program with C, and I can't find any info about
>GUI programming with C. I'm almost done with O'reilly's Practical
>programming with C, and would like to mess around with GUI programming with
>C.[/color]

That's because C doesn't officially support any GUI and each GUI has its
own C API. So, after *mastering* the C language, find a book about
programming in C with the GUI of your choice (there are plenty of books
about programming in C for Win32 and X11, at least).

Dan
--
Dan Pop
DESY Zeuthen, RZ group
Email: Dan.Pop@ifh.de

[John Bode]

Re: GUI Programming with C?


"Jesse B." <jakle131@adelp hia.net> wrote in message
news:gtCdnSgjtN rfkRrdRVn-sw@adelphia.com ...[color=blue]
> I've been learning how to program with C, and I can't find any info about
> GUI programming with C. I'm almost done with O'reilly's Practical
> programming with C, and would like to mess around with GUI programming[/color]
with[color=blue]
> C. I understand that it's easier to move to C++ or a few other languages
> (namely GTK+ or QT), but I'd like to stick with just C for awhile so I[/color]
don't[color=blue]
> get too confused. I've been told that I should stick with a language for
> awhile and make sure I know it inside and out before I move on. I also[/color]
think[color=blue]
> that I could learn alot about C and my hardware if I were to dabble with[/color]
GUI[color=blue]
> programming using C.
>
> If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be very greatful.
>
>[/color]

GTK and QT are third-party libraries, not languages unto themselves.

Since C doesn't natively support any kind of GUI calls, you're going to need
to rely on libraries provided by your system (such as the Windows API or the
Mac Toolbox (pre-OS X)) or a third party (GTK, QT).

Based on the very few times I've done it, I'd say that C is absolutely the
wrong tool for writing GUIs. Depending on the library, it can go from being
merely tedious to downright torture. You have memory management issues out
the wazoo, funky data structures, fairly complex pointer expressions
(something like *((**foo)->bar) wasn't uncommon) . You have to ratchet up
your definition of a "small" program by an order of magnitude.

It's okay to do it as an intellectual exercise, though.

[Jesse B.]

Re: GUI Programming with C?


Thank you all for the feedback. I will be sure to check out those resources,
and watch what I post and where I post it. Thank you for having patience and
being understanding to a rookie like myself.