Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 09:43:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lisa Mann <lisam@oreilly.com>
To: cool@eklektix.com
Subject: Programming with Qt release

For immediate release
April 23, 1999
For more information, a review copy, cover art, or interview with the author, contact:
Lisa Mann (707) 829-0515 ext 230 or lisam@oreilly.com



Dissolving Boundaries with Qt

Sebastopol, CA--Qt is an easy-to-use, multi-platform C++ GUI toolkit.
With Qt, a developer can write an application once and run it on UNIX,
Windows 95/98, and Windows NT platforms. Qt has a similar look and feel
to the standard Motif toolkit for UNIX systems, but it is easier to
use. And it emulates the look-and-feel of Windows, so you can provide
all of your users with native-looking interfaces. Qt also manages to
straddle both the proprietary and open source communitiescorporations
are comfortable paying for Qt and the accompanying support agreements
they expect from a commercial sale. Linux developers can acquire Qt
for free (unless they wish to develop closed-source commercial
applications in which case they must purchase a license). Now O'Reilly
and Associates has published a book on Qt"Programming with Qt" by
Matthias Kalle Dalheimer.

"I do contract programming specializing in cross-platform software
development. My customers contract me because I can deliver on both
UNIX and Windows - something which not many people do nowadays, but has
become a quite comfortable market niche for me." explained Dalheimer, "
It would simply not be feasible to write an application twice -- the
cost would be so high that my rates would not be competitive at all. Qt
allows me to write my application once and then compile it on various
UNIX systems and Windows. Thus I only have the development time once
instead of twice. This is about what Java promises, but without the
slowness of the application and the horrible development tools that
still hamper Java application development."

Platform independence is not the only benefit of Qt. Qt uses an
ingenious signal/slot mechanism for connecting user interaction with
program functionality, providing an excellent framework for
component-based programming. Graphical rendering in Qt is highly
optimized due to its use of effective caching mechanisms -- rendering
in Qt is often faster than with the similar native API. In addition to
user interface classes, Qt features portable support for file system
access, working with date and time values, and network programming.
With Qt, you'll find that you need to write very little, if any,
platform-dependent code because Qt already has what you need.

Qt's benefits are impressive, but 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. "We
felt there was a need for a book that  guides you through the steps of
writing a Qt application  and presents all of the GUI elements in Qt,
along with advice about when and how to use them, so that you can make
full use of the toolkit." said Elke Hansel, Managing Director of
O'Reilly Germany, "There's also lots of information for seasoned Qt
programmers, including material on advanced 2D transformations,
drag-and-drop, and writing custom image file filters."

An interesting side note on the book: "Programming QT" is the first
book in English published by O'Reilly to have originated in the German
office. "Traditionally, Europeans have always had a strong affinity for
Linux and free software in general, both as users and as programmers"
explained Hansel, "So when we started the Qt book, we had a strong
interest here in Europe, but we weren't sure how strong the interest
would be in the US.  So we decided to publish it in English for the
European market only. By the time the book was published by the German
company, the Open Source movement had advanced so that Qt was widely
recognized as a cutting-edge topic. This was the first time we
published an English language O'Reilly book outside the US - but we
will do so again whenever it makes sense."


For an Profile of Matthias Kalle Dalheimer by Thomas Scoville see:
http://opensource.oreilly.com/news/dalheimer_0499.html

For more information on the book, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/prowqt/

Programming with Qt
Writing Portable GUI applications on UNIX and Win32
By Matthias Kalle Dalheimer
1st Edition April 1999 (US)
1-56592-588-2, 384 pages, $32.95 (US)
http://www.oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
order@oreilly.com