Ask HN: What do you recommend to build desktop apps?

9 points by mc 14 years ago · 6 comments · 1 min read

What's your favorite SDK (or framework or toolkit) for building desktop apps?

I've got few requirements: - Cross-platform (Can build and distribute Windows, Mac, & Linux executables)

  - Great documentation

  - Open source or commercial licensing

I do Java and Ruby programming, so there a few that come to mind:

  * Swing

  * SWT

  * HotCocoa

I've also found:

  * Qt

  * wxWidgets

If you've used one of these SDKs, was it successful? Did you get the job done on time? What was the learning curve like?

Thanks

davyjones 14 years ago

Mine is Qt.

I am developing an admin client for PostgreSQL: pgXplorer (github.com/davyjones/pgXplorer). I was coding primary on a Windows platform and decided at some point that a Linux build would be useful as well. I was surprised when the project compiled the first time I imported it into my Linux environment, and that too without any tweaks. So yeah...more than surprised actually.

But...there are some issues I am facing with window behaviour, mouse events, etc. Still working on that.

thejteam 14 years ago

We use QT extensively at work. It is the best documented framework that I have ever worked with. I am primarily a C programmer who dislikes GUIs, but the it has made GUI development pretty painless for me. Their networking classes are also good.

kls 14 years ago

If I where doing a Desktop Java app, I think I would take the time to learn JavaFX. While I don't think we will see widespread adoption, I do think most people will favor it over swing. I did a simple app in it and I prefer it to swing. Take my advise with a grain of salt though, I have not been deep in desktop for a long time. It was a fluke that I had a Java desktop app contract.

blcArmadillo 14 years ago

I have done some GUI work with QT. I found their documentation to be very good. All in all it was pretty easy to pickup.

Shorel 14 years ago

wxWidgets is my choice. Native widgets in all platforms.

I also believe it is the preferred toolkit for game related development if your game uses OpenGL and or DirectX.

umenline 14 years ago

Qt!

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