Gtk to Qt - a strange journey
Presenter(s): Dirk Hohndel
URL: https://lca2014.linux.org.au/schedule...
Subsurface is an open source dive log program with a relatively small but active set of core contributors. It was created as a Gtk application and did reasonably well with a number of successful releases. Early 2013 the developers decided to change course and switch to Qt. This presentation will discuss why we did this (interestingly enough, a good bit of discussion after my presentation at LCA2013 was part of the motivation to migrate), what obstacles we encountered and what advise we have for other applications frustrated with Gtk (or curious about what a migration to Qt might have to offer).
The presentation will cover many technical aspects of the migration: C vs. C++, coding standards, available libraries to use for tasks like XML parsing, connecting to web services, etc., compactness of code, boiler plate, issues with cross platform development, dependency on other projects... But we will also talk about more cultural and project dynamic related issues: what if your main Qt expert is not a subject matter expert in what your software is all about? what if your previous key developers like what Qt has to offer, but aren't experienced Qt/C++ developers?
We will of course do a side by side presentation of the two versions, try to highlight what we've gained, admit what we lost and provide an attempt to summarize and give recommendations about the two toolkits.
http://lca2014.linux.org.au - http://www.linux.org.au
CC BY-SA - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...