Getting started

[Matthew J. Fisher]

Hello,

I've been using the GNOME desktop in several different distros for the
past few years, and have an interest in learning how to develop for the
GNOME platform.

I have a small project in mind, but need some advice on choice of
programming language.  I know C, C++, and C# but the tutorials I've
discovered so far seem to be primarily in C.  Is C still the best
language with which to start learning GNOME development?

The project would be a GUI alternative to the existing Lisp script for
gNewSense "kernel freedom verification":

http://wiki.gnewsense.org/Kernel/Kfv-script

I'm not a free software purist, but the gNewSense mindset makes me grin
-- mas papista que el papa.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

 - Matt Fisher

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[Robin Sonefors-2]

On lör, 2009-08-01 at 08:21 -0400, Matthew J. Fisher wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I've been using the GNOME desktop in several different distros for the
> past few years, and have an interest in learning how to develop for the
> GNOME platform.
>
> I have a small project in mind, but need some advice on choice of
> programming language.  I know C, C++, and C# but the tutorials I've
> discovered so far seem to be primarily in C.  Is C still the best
> language with which to start learning GNOME development?

I would say no, unless you're really familiar with C. The C used by
GNOME looks pretty alien in some places, and will, I think, take longer
to figure out, compared to if you use the bindings for other languages.

I haven't really looked at the C++ bindings, but the C# bindings are in
my opinion very good, and I found their documentation very helpful.
MonoDevelop is also a pretty decent way to get a modern programming
environment. However, I never had to look for beginner tutorials, since
I understood GTK+ when I started using it, so I can't say anything about
avability or quality there. http://www.mono-project.com/GtkSharp has
pointers to a few tutorials and the API reference for C#.

It's also worth pointing out that the GNOME APIs are very similar
between the different languages they support. C#, for instance, can use
real namespaces, classes and properties, while C have to fake it, but
that's pretty much all the difference there is. Thus, once you figure
out the basics, you will be able to read C documentation, and use it for
coding C# without much trouble.

Good luck!

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[Javier Jardón]

2009/8/1 Matthew J. Fisher <mfisher_ix@...>:
> Hello,
>

Hello Matthew!

> I've been using the GNOME desktop in several different distros for the
> past few years, and have an interest in learning how to develop for the
> GNOME platform.
>

Great :)

> I have a small project in mind, but need some advice on choice of
> programming language.  I know C, C++, and C# but the tutorials I've
> discovered so far seem to be primarily in C.  Is C still the best
> language with which to start learning GNOME development?
>

You can take a look to Vala [1] language too. Is very similar to C#
but you don't need a special runtime environment.
You have a tutorial [2] and a lot of examples [3] in Gnome wiki.


> The project would be a GUI alternative to the existing Lisp script for
> gNewSense "kernel freedom verification":
>
> http://wiki.gnewsense.org/Kernel/Kfv-script
>

Very interesting, inform us of your progress on you new project ;)

Regards,

[1] http://live.gnome.org/Vala
[2] http://live.gnome.org/Vala/Tutorial
[3] http://live.gnome.org/Vala#head-9c728d151a2a0483d4f3b5837e5b545df9d8499d
--
Javier Jardón Cabezas
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[Richard Henwood-2]

--- On Sat, 1/8/09, Matthew J. Fisher <mfisher_ix@...> wrote:

> From: Matthew J. Fisher <mfisher_ix@...>
> Subject: [gnome-love] Getting started
> To: gnome-love@...
> Date: Saturday, 1 August, 2009, 1:21 PM
> Hello,
>
> I've been using the GNOME desktop in several different
> distros for the
> past few years, and have an interest in learning how to
> develop for the
> GNOME platform.
>
> I have a small project in mind, but need some advice on
> choice of
> programming language.  I know C, C++, and C# but the
> tutorials I've
> discovered so far seem to be primarily in C.  Is C
> still the best
> language with which to start learning GNOME development?
>
> The project would be a GUI alternative to the existing Lisp
> script for
> gNewSense "kernel freedom verification":
>
> http://wiki.gnewsense.org/Kernel/Kfv-script
>
> I'm not a free software purist, but the gNewSense mindset
> makes me grin
> -- mas papista que el papa.
>

Hi Matthew,

This sounds like a nice project to get started with!

I also recently started developing a Gnome application: in my case I chose Python - although I didn't have any previous experience with it.

I was able to find lots of tutorials and examples, and I have able to rapidly get a prototype application going. I've begun porting one performance critical section of the code to C, and it is proving to require significant patience - as other posters have suggested.

If I may offer one suggestion: you should familiarise yourself with the ongoing debate concerning the use of C# for Free Software [1]. When you come to share your work with a wider audience (which I hope you have ambition to do!) this topic may be raised.

Best regards,
Richard


1. for example: http://lwn.net/Articles/341771/


     

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