C++ is taught “The Qt way”, with an emphasis on design patterns, and re-use of open source libraries and tools. By the end of the book, the reader should have a deep understanding of both the language and libraries, as well the design patterns used in developing software with them.
C++ had been in use for many years before it was standardized in 1989, which makes it a relatively mature language compared to others that are in popular use today. It is a very important language for building fast, efficient, mission-critical systems. C++ is also one of the most flexible languages around, giving developers many choices of programming styles for use in high-level GUI code as well as low-level device drivers.
For a few years in the early 90s, C++ was the most popular object oriented (OO) language in use, and many computer science (CS) students were introduced to object-oriented programming (OOP) via C++. This was because C++ provided a relatively easy transition to OOP for C programmers, and many CS professors had been teaching C previously.
Starting around 1996, Java gained favor over C++ as the first OO language for students to learn. There are a number of reasons that Java gained so much popularity.
C++ had been in use for many years before it was standardized in 1989, which makes it a relatively mature language compared to others that are in popular use today. It is a very important language for building fast, efficient, mission-critical systems. C++ is also one of the most flexible languages around, giving developers many choices of programming styles for use in high-level GUI code as well as low-level device drivers.
For a few years in the early 90s, C++ was the most popular object oriented (OO) language in use, and many computer science (CS) students were introduced to object-oriented programming (OOP) via C++. This was because C++ provided a relatively easy transition to OOP for C programmers, and many CS professors had been teaching C previously.
Starting around 1996, Java gained favor over C++ as the first OO language for students to learn. There are a number of reasons that Java gained so much popularity.
- The language itself is simpler than C++.
- The language has built-in garbage collection, so programmers do not need to concern themselves with memory de-allocation.
- A standard set of GUI classes is included in the development kit.
- The built-in String class supports Unicode.
- Multithreading is built into the language.
- It is easier to build and “plug in” Java Archives (JARs) than it is to recompile and relink libraries.
- Many Web servers provide Java APIs for easy integration.
- Java programs are platform independent (Wintel, Solaris, MacOS, Linux, *nix, etc.).
