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

In my opinion, the authors of this book used an inappropriate technique for explaining Qt concepts: they repeatedly show long excerpts of source code (C++ with Qt classes and macros) and then go through the source code line by line explaining what we are seeing.It's like exploring an art museum with a magnifying glass held 2 inches away from the paintings.You never get the big picture, you can never stand back and see Qt from the top down, you can never get your arms around it.Just these endless examples with fantastically detailed explanations in which absolutely critical concepts are buried deep in the text, casually mentioned in passing, and given no more space or emphasis than the unimportant concepts.

This technique didn't work at all for me.I got through the first 50 pages or so and was exhausted because I had to spend so much time combing through the code examples and the text, reading and re-reading and studying it.And rather than use simple examples that would spotlight and highlight new key concepts, the authors veer off into fairly advanced things way too early (like shape-changing dialogs on page 31 and dynamic dialogs on page 38) while the reader is still trying to digest the basic concepts like QObject and slots and signals.

Unfortunately, the two other Qt books out there and the Trolltech tutorial aren't much better.They all have this nutty idea that you can teach Qt to anyone if you just hang source code like wallpaper everywhere and then explain it line by line.The authors of this book obviously spent a lot of time on this book, and I don't enjoy criticizing their work, but the book would have been ten times better if the authors had prefaced each chapter with an introductory discussion of key concepts and not forced the readers themselves to dig the details out of dense source code.

So I got to page 51 and gave up... then the book turned into a doorstop, sadly.It might be useful to a Qt expert who is trying to refresh his or her knowledge of Qt, but as a tutorial to new students of Qt the book is unsuccessful.

Product Description

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

About the Author

Jasmin Blanchette is a Trolltech senior software engineer and is writing his M.Sc. thesis in computer science at the University of Oslo.

Mark Summerfield works as an independent trainer and consultant specializing in C++, Qt, Python, and PyQt, and is the author of Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt. Blanchette and Summerfield coauthored C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3 and the first edition of C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4.

Click Here to see more reviews about: C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4 (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development Series) (Hardcover)