On Mon, 22 Nov 1999, Jason Straight wrote:
> Once upon a time, I programmed the Amiga in C. Today I would like to be
> able to code C on linux. The basic stdout stuff is easy, but I want to
> know what references I should buy for understanding the system calls and
> programming X/GTK/QT and device programming. Eventually I would like to
> understand linux well enough to do things like write device drivers for
> the kernel, etc.
>
> What books are reccomended by the experts?
First of C is native to unix. There aren't any unix exceptions to C, as unix is
the rule :-)
If you eventually want to write device drivers, get the book "Writing Linux
Device Drivers" at OReilly. But you don't need any X/GTK/QT for drivers.
But when you do GUI programming, ignore X and stick with the toolkits to start
with. GTK is good for C programmers, and Qt is good for C++ programmers,
but there are good wrappers for each in the other language. There shouldn't be
language wars between the two. C is perfect for the low level, system level,
and small stuff. C++ is perfect for the huge projects, OO type projects, and X
projects (since windows are objects). Or you can mix and match C and C++.
There are not GTK books, yet... But I understand one is on the way.
"Programming Qt" is available from OReilly, and its included documentation is
the best anywhere.
And a small word of advice. Don't write Gnome or KDE applications. There are
too many programs already with g and k prefixes :-) Stick with GTK and Qt
unless you really need something in the desktop library.
--
Arandir...
_______________________________
<http://www.meer.net/~arandir/>
