creating a graphical front end - Tech Support Forums

sr71000 · May 5th, 2005, 06:12 PM

ok...really noob question...but i have no idea where to even start. How to I create a graphical front end for a program. Do I need a different thing for each language, or just one that works with all languages. Forgive me for my lack of knowledge but i don't even know the right name for it...i searched creating a graphical front end and I don't even get anything. I don't even know what to google for!!

lol. please just set me off in the right direction. Thank you for any info or links you can supply!

jkrohn · May 5th, 2005, 09:56 PM

First off, how good is your programming? To do a front end you are going to need to understand event and even handling. Functions, references, and usually OOP or something similar. Manually creating a front end is an ardous process, and if you are not good at programming you will find it VERY frusturating.

That being said what language are you looking to use?

sr71000 · May 5th, 2005, 10:01 PM

right now I'm using perl but i'm thinking of switching over to C+ because I can compile it myself and then just distribute! I'm new to programming but I suppose I'm ok...i don't mind that it's difficult..it i didn't want anything hard I really wouldn't be looking into programming

lol. thanks for any advice you can give!!

/edit thank you btw for the response..i know the newbie questions like this are a pain

jkrohn · May 5th, 2005, 10:05 PM

If you are new to programming I would NOT reccomend attempting a front end.

Sorry to be a bearer of bad news.

If you still want to try it, thats ok. You WILL struggle alot. This will be espeically true as you will need OOP in C++ which you don't get from Perl. My advice: Take up C++. Learn OOP, learn data structures and how to write your own. Then take on writing front ends.

If you still want to continue it depends what OS you are on.
For windows look into MFC.
For linux you have your choice of any of the windowing toolkits. GTK, QT, etc.

jkrohn · May 5th, 2005, 10:07 PM

And your question is not a pain man. Too many programmers make the mistake of trying to go "too big too soon". Attempting to develop a font end when you do not have a solid foundation leads to much frustration. This "too big too soon" stuff people like to try is what leads to the "PROGRAMMING IS SO HARD!!!!111!!11!!" mentality.

I am just making sur eyou know what you are getting in to

VHockey86 · May 5th, 2005, 10:09 PM

Only way I'd recommend donig a front end if you are new to programming is VB or VC++.

But i agree with jkrohn 100%.

jkrohn · May 5th, 2005, 10:10 PM

If you are doing VB or VC++ (which I don't reccomend BTW) it would be ok as these are RAD evironments. You get to the "fun stuff" quick, but at the expense of learning many important things that you will need in the more difficult languages.

sr71000 · May 6th, 2005, 03:50 PM

i'll stick with perl for my actual programs right now as i'm going to be making some cgi stuff soon (you will probably be seeing a lot of perl in this forum soon

lol) but i like to dabble and learn...i'm not going to be writing any big programs..i just wanna dabble and make some stuff...then probably delete it and make something else

lol. just for the hell of it! Anyways....can anyone recommend a place with a good tutorial to write some basic stuff in C (ps..is there a different between C+ and C++? does C++ even exist? lol..so much bad info out there that i don't even know if I should trust it or not! lol. anyways...any advice (or links to tutorials) is greatly greatly appreciated!

Blazer06 · May 6th, 2005, 07:32 PM

I would suggest learning Java, but that’s my personal preference.

For non-programmers, learning programming I have found they understand OOP a lot easier, than programmers that learned on event driven, then try to learn OOP.

Learn some Java, starting out learning some GUI (Graphical User Interface) is easy enough, and I found that it is easy to learn GUI, before basic functions, as it really helps you to understand OOP.

Anyways, if you decide to use Java, download Eclipse, and then head over here to learn all about Swing, border managers, and GUI’s in Java.

ALSO! If you are going to use Java, start out writing applications, not applets. Don’t bother buying books, as 90% only teach applet building.

-Blaze