Gettin' GUI with GTK+
If you’re interested in writing portable GUI-based applications for Linux, the “GIMP Toolkit,” or GTK+, can provide you with a strong foundation to build on.
If you’re interested in writing portable GUI-based applications for Linux, the “GIMP Toolkit,” or GTK+, can provide you with a strong foundation to build on. Unlike the administrative and low-level world of the Linux kernel and its related daemons, applications are user-level tools that, in today’s modern GUI-centric world, are event-driven and graphically-based. Perhaps you’ve considered moving to Linux — or have already done so –and want to know if you can easily produce easy-to-use applications. Or maybe you want to know how hard it will be to port your existing GUI (Graphical User Interface) programs from another platform to Linux. While no one can answer those questions absolutely, this article aims to show you how GTK+ might fill your needs.
What is GTK+?
GTK+ is an acronym for “GIMP Toolkit.” It was originally designed as a library of user interface components (otherwise known as an API — Application Programming Interface) for use specifically in creating the GIMP’s user interface. For those who don’t know, the GIMP is a Unix and Linux-based alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop and is one of the centerpieces of the Linux desktop world. GTK+’s design is portable and extensible; not long after its introduction, it became a major influence on the look and feel of the Linux desktop. In fact, GTK+ provides the underlying libraries upon which the GNOME desktop environment is built.
