An Introduction to C++ with Design Patterns in Qt 4 [PHBOOKS].pdf

Book excerpts:

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++.

Starting around 1996, Java gained favor over C++ as the first OO language for students to learn, for a number of reasons. These benefits of Java can be achieved with C++ used in conjunction with Qt 4:
- Qt provides a comprehensive set of GUI classes that run faster, look better, and are more flexible than Java's Swing classes.
- Signals and slots are easier to use than (Action|Event|Key)Listener interfaces in Java.
- Qt 4 has a plugin architecture that makes it possible to load code into an application without recompiling or relinking.
- Qt 4 provides foreach, which makes iteration through collections simpler to read and write.

Using C++ with Qt comes very close to Java in ease of use, comprehensiveness, and convenience. It significantly exceeds Java in the areas of speed and efficiency, making everything from processing-intensive server applications to high-speed graphics-intensive games possible.

Intended Audience:

There are many C++ books out there that either teach C++ or teach Qt. Many of these C++ books use a variety of different programming styles, and they emphasize some topics that we do not use very often with Qt, while the Qt books assume prior C++ knowledge.

This book, by contrast, assumes no C or C++ programming experience, and it covers the language features of C++ that readers need to know in order to use Qt 4 classes as early as possible in the examples and assignments. It can be used as a textbook for teaching C++ and design patterns, with an emphasis on open-source code reuse.

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.