Introduction of wxWidgets tutorial

Introduction of wxWidgets tutorial

This is a tutorial, that will introduce you to the programming with the wxWidgets toolkit.

wxWidgets

wxWidgets is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) toolkit for creating C++ applications. It is an opensource, mature and cross-platform toolkit. wxWidgets applications run on all major OS platforms, Windows, Unix and Mac. The project was started by Julian Smart in 1992. wxWidgets is much more than a toolkit. It provides a large variety of classes for handling streams, databases, threads, online help or application settings. wxWidgets consists of a large group of widgets. The community around wxWidgets is grouped around their website.

The C++ programming language

The C++ programming language is one of the most widely used programming languages. It is used in many famous desktop applications like MS Office, Macromedia Flash, Firefox, Photoshop or 3D Max. C++ dominates also the world of PC games. It is one of the most difficult programming languages. On the other hand, programming in C++ today is different from programming 10 years ago. There are many tools and libraries that make the programming easier.

Programming languages

There are currently several widely used programming languages. The following list is based on the TIOBE Programming Community Index. The numbers are from November 2010. As we can see, C++ still belongs to the most popular programming languages in the world.

Position	Language	Ratings
1	Java	18.5%
2	C	16.7%
3	C++	9.5%
4	PHP	7.8%
5	C#	5.7%
6	Python	5.7%
7	Visual Basic	5.5%
8	Objective C	3.2%
9	Perl	2.4%
10	Ruby	1.9%

Java is the most widely used programming language. Java excels in creating portable mobile applications, programming various appliances and in creating enterprise applications. Every fourth application is programmed in C/C++. They are standard for creating operating systems and various desktop applications. C/C++ are the most widely used system programming languages.
PHP dominates over the Web. While Java is used mainly by large organizations, PHP is used by smaller companies and individuals. PHP is used to create dynamic web applications.
C# is the main programming language of the Microsoft .NET platform. C# is followed in .NET by Visual Basic. It represents of the popularity of the RAD. (Rapid Application Development.)
Perl, Python and Ruby are the most widely used scripting languages. They share many similarities. They are close competitors.
The Objective C is the main programming language of the Apple ecosystem.

Multiplatform programming

Today, multiplatform programming is a buzzword. Most languages and libraries want to be multiplatform. wxWidgets was created as a multiplatform tool from the beginning. Most developers choose among these options. If it is possible, they go to the web. Or they can use Qt, wxWidgets, Swing or SWT. The Qt library is the closest competitor to wxWidgets. Using the right tool for the right job is one of the most importat decisions programmer's (or management) do.
This was an introduction to wxWidgets.