3. GUI Toolkits
The standard graphical subsystem for UNIX and Linux, called X, has its own libraries for GUI development. They provide a low-level programming interface to X, but tend to be hard to use. Old end-user applications and other toolkits of course make good use of them. Nowadays the Linux GUI scene is dominated by GTK+ and Qt, since two popular, complete user environments - GNOME and KDE - are based on them.
3.1 Concepts in the Table
- Library
Common name or abbreviation of the toolkit.
- Beginner
Whether the toolkit is suitable for a newbie programmer.
- License
Different licenses for different GUI toolkits have practical significance. GTK+, TK and GNUstep licenses allow you to develop both open source and closed source applications without paying for a license. Motif license requires payment, while the QT license requires payment only if you write closed source programs.
- Language
The language that is most often used with the toolkit.
- Bindings
Other languages which can use the toolkit.
- Examples
Applications that use the toolkit.
- Comments
Additional information on the toolkit.
3.2 Major GUI Toolkits
|
Library | Beginner | License | Language | Bindings | Examples | Comments |
| TK | Yes | Free | TCL | Perl, Python, others | make xconfig, TKDesk | |
| GTK+ | No | Free (LGPL) | C | Perl, C++, Python, many others | GNOME, Gimp | Very popular |
| QT | No | Free for open source | C++ | Python, Perl, C, others? | KDE | Very popular |
| Motif | No | Non-free | C/C++ | Python, others? | Netscape, Wordperfect | Lesstif isa free replacement |
| GNUstep | No | Free (LGPL) | Objective C | Guile, Java? | None widely known, but see the application list | GNUstep is still under development |
3.3 Links
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