Learning about developing apps for mobile
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Hello all. I am new to Qt. I coming from a VB background and I have been looking around Qt. That Qt enables one to write applications for multiple platforms is very exciting for me. I am particularly interested in developing apps for mobile devices. My problem is, where do I start? From what I have fathomed, a fair amount of C++ knowledge is required, which I don’t have! I would appreciate some pointing in the right direction.
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Before trying to learn Qt you should learn C++. When you know atleast basics of C++ then learning Qt is easy. There is lots of good C++ books and online tutorials.
Once you know C++ you can start learning Qt. There is a free e-book version of "C++ GUI Programming with Qt4, first edition" made by Jasmin Blanchette and Nark Summerfield. That book was released in 2006. You can legally download that e-book as a pdf file from here:
http://www.qtrac.eu/C++-GUI-Programming-with-Qt-4-1st-ed.zip
Second edition of that book was released in 2009 and it's available as a paper book if you want to buy it. I have that second edition and it's nice book.
And by the way. You might have heard about QML. One possibility is to create Qt apps fior mobile devices using QML and JavaScript.
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There is also lots of examples, tutorials and documentation in the Forum Nokia web pages. In the Forum Nokia wiki there is whole section for Qt articles containibng lots of example code.
http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Category:Qt
And ofcource you should not forget the official Qt documentation :)
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Was hoping there was a way round learning C++ but alas! Thanks Mika
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Well, maybe you start Javascript + QML, first: http://qt.nokia.com/qtquick/ . C++ is really a hart nut to eat.
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Thank you unclewerner. I am already delving into C++ and I see your point. But does it mean one can't write apps for mobile devices after taking the C++ route? Must one use Javascript , QML for mobile apps?
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[quote author="bernie2011" date="1299516021"]Thank you unclewerner. I am already delving into C++ and I see your point. But does it mean one can't write apps for mobile devices after taking the C++ route? Must one use Javascript , QML for mobile apps?[/quote]
You can use either approach or a combination of the two. If your app is simple to moderate complexity then you may be able to get away with pure QML/javascript.
If your app is more complex then it might be wise to do the backend components in C++/Qt and have them emit signals as needed and have slots that trigger some backend action. The frontend GUI can be written in QML/javascript still but it connects to the signals/slots of the C++ objects to do the heavy lifting for it.
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I think you should understand overall design concepts behind such framework ( also methaprogramming, patterns ) of for what you need framework,
how the things "settle" on your hardware, platform, what you can do with Qt and what you can't, how it interact with hw and with os. Rapid application development techniques should be considered also.
