What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

Davigetto · 2007-10-06 18:39:03

Hello, I have some doubts between GTK+ and QT; What are the main differences between the two libraries? Who offers more performance and speed? Who is more useful and flexible?

Greetings

CocoAUS · 2007-10-06 18:58:38

I have a feeling people will disagree/flame on this one...

In my experience, QT makes a lot more sense on something things, whereas GTK+ is quite broken, technically speaking. However, from a usability standpoint, I think GTK+ is great (PyGTK bindings are nice, too). As for speed, I find GTK+ to be faster, but QT4 is supposed to see quite a significance increase in speed.

For me, I love GNOME, so it's just GTK+ no matter what.

lucke · 2007-10-06 19:03:57

From my observations QT(4) is regarded as more advanced and more fun/easier to code in (e.g. signals and slots vs callbacks), and with QT4 come lots of nice goodies, including performance improvements.

An important difference is that GTK uses C and QT uses C++. GNOME/XFCE apps are written using GTK2, KDE uses QT.

The longstanding problem with QT was the fact that it wasn't GPL-licensed; that's why GNOME came to life, actually.

Generally, it's kind of asking which is better, GNOME or KDE, Ruby or Python. Any proponents of either will find its pros over the other one ;-)

Whichever one should one use depends obviously also on what one needs to code - if you're coding a KDE app, you have to stick to QT.

I'm not much of a coder myself, but if I were to code some desktop app, it'd be in QT.

Davigetto · 2007-10-06 19:37:51

I have tested some programs like KPDF in front of Acroread, Amarok vs Exaile, Kaffeine vs Totem, Kopete vs Pidgin... and I find faster all KDE apps.

But for now QT libraries are free, right?

I have heard (I don't know if it is true or false) that qt takes advantage of 3D rendering, while GTK+ doesn't use that rendering...

Is this the main reason why I find KDE faster than gnome?

Last edited by Davigetto (2007-10-06 19:38:28)

skottish · 2007-10-06 19:44:48

As a related thing, QT4 is much faster and nicer looking than QT3. And the font rendering is vastly improved.

Jessehk · 2007-10-07 00:41:37

As somebody with not a lot (but some) programming experience, Qt is just a joy to work with. It has fantastic documentation, functionality, and it's easy to write programs. I can't say the same for gtk+.

stonecrest · 2007-10-07 03:38:16

Jessehk wrote:

As somebody with not a lot (but some) programming experience, Qt is just a joy to work with. It has fantastic documentation, functionality, and it's easy to write programs. I can't say the same for gtk+.

I can Regardless, I doubt he really cares about the developers' point of views.

Your best bet is to try gnome/xfce and kde and determine which you like better. That'll give an indication of the two toolkits.

Skylar · 2007-10-07 09:29:51

When I will have those absolutely amazing things like Murrine and Rezlooks for QT, I'll think about switching to KDE. Every QT theme I've ever seen was _really_ ugly

iphitus · 2007-10-07 10:07:49

Simply they're two different ways of implementing the same thing.

You'll find a lot of claims that one is better/faster/more attractive than the other, but they all come from a lack of information, or are completely unbacked.

So in summary:
- Use whichever applications you find most comfortable, regardless of which toolkit they use.
- Program with whichever you find more comfortable, they both work differently

The best way to find out the answer to either, is to try them. It's not that hard, and doesnt take long.

James

scoon · 2007-10-08 02:07:52

iphitus wrote:

Simply they're two different ways of implementing the same thing.
You'll find a lot of claims that one is better/faster/more attractive than the other, but they all come from a lack of information, or are completely unbacked.
So in summary:
- Use whichever applications you find most comfortable, regardless of which toolkit they use.
- Program with whichever you find more comfortable, they both work differently
The best way to find out the answer to either, is to try them. It's not that hard, and doesnt take long.
James

And how!!!!!

scoon

voonte · 2007-10-13 13:29:09

Davigetto wrote:

Hello, I have some doubts between GTK+ and QT; What are the main differences between the two libraries? Who offers more performance and speed? Who is more useful and flexible?

Are you looking for answers from a user's point of view, or a developer's? You should try both and see which one you like the most.

Developer: After testing both GTK and Qt, I chose to go with Qt. It's very easy to use and there are plenty of great tools to assist you. If you're not using C++ (which Qt is coded in), you can use a number of other language bindings, such as Python, Ruby, Java, C#, and more.

User: In my opinion, a user could care less which GUI framework your applications use. However, if the majority of the applications you prefer are using one of the libraries, try to stick with that. I found my preferred apps used Qt, so it was natural to stick with Qt+KDE. The few GTK apps I needed can be "fixed up" with the GTK-Qt Theme Engine.

Davigetto wrote:

But for now QT libraries are free, right?

Yes. If your application is open source, it's free. (GPL)

Arch Linux

#1 2007-10-06 18:39:03

What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

#2 2007-10-06 18:58:38

Re: What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

#3 2007-10-06 19:03:57

Re: What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

#4 2007-10-06 19:37:51

Re: What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

#5 2007-10-06 19:44:48

Re: What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

#6 2007-10-07 00:41:37

Re: What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

#7 2007-10-07 03:38:16

Re: What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

#8 2007-10-07 09:29:51

Re: What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

#9 2007-10-07 10:07:49

Re: What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

#10 2007-10-08 02:07:52

Re: What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

#11 2007-10-13 13:29:09

Re: What are the main differences between GTK+ and QT?

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