1. Dispelling Cross-Platform Software Development Myths
Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets
Kevin Hock
August 2005

2. Overview Who am I? What is cross-platform development?
Why cross-platform?
Cross-platform myths
Recap wxWidgets
wxWidgets book

3. Who am I? Miami University (OH) Visiting Instructor
Founded BitWise Communications
Created BitWise IM
wxWidgets developer
wxWidgets book co-author

4. What is cross-platform?
Applications for multiple platforms
Platform-agnostic API
Write once, compile/run everywhere
GUI layout
Advanced classes

5. Why cross-platform? Heterogeneous world Growing Linux / OS X markets
Increased market share
Increased customer satisfaction
Not locked to a platform

6. Myth #1: Slow applications
wxWidgets is a thin wrapper
CPU speeds increasing
Few real-time applications
Hand in hand with slow, is…
Mahogany Mail (Linux)

8. Myth #2: Large libraries required
Thin wrapper
Statically link wxWidgets
Avoid rpm / so / dll issues
Compare sizes on Windows:
Library
Raw MB
Zip MB
Java
30+ 15
GTK+ 9+ 4 QT 4+ 2
wxWidgets
<1
<1/2
Bulky libraries also mean…

9. Myth #3: Poor mobile support
Windows CE
GPE using GTK+
wxX11 uses only X
Palm OS 6
Adjust window layouts (small)
So many devices, it must have…
Life! on GPE

10. Myth #4: Non-native appearance
Uses OS widgets, not a skin
If it’s native on all platforms, then don’t you have…

14. Myth #5: Awkward window layout
Sizers adapt to
Fonts
Languages
Widget sizes
Window sizes
Sounds great, what about…

15. Myth #6: Non-standard dialogs
wxWidgets uses standard OS dialogs
Non-native, used by another library
Native, used by wxWidgets
What if it doesn’t exist? Doesn’t that lead to…

16. Myth #7: Lowest common denominator
Generic widgets bridge gaps
Platform-specific classes (wxWebkit)
Custom-drawn application widgets
Platform-specific code
But wouldn’t this factoring still lead to…
Audacity Sound Editor (Linux)

18. Myth #8: Have to learn OS details
wxWidgets abstracts – common API
wxMenuBar, About / Preferences
wxSound
wxConfig
wxSingleInstanceChecker
wxLaunchDefaultBrowser
Wow, all this must be really complicated…

19. Myth #9: Complicated, unstable
“More often than not wxWidgets gets out of the way of the programmer.”
Well structured, easy to use API
Excellent documentation
12 years of evolution
Worldwide community
Lists, newsgroups, forums, wiki
What about support when I have a problem?

20. Myth #10: Locked into one vendor
Open source
Worldwide community
Cannot be discontinued
Not a company, no profit motive
Community support
wxCode: community extensions
But aren’t I still…

21. Myth #11: Locked into a technology
Standard C++, no extensions
Use standard C++ libraries
Library-agnostic
New technologies embraced
Free upgrades to new technologies!
Old
New
Motif
GTK
GTK+
GTK+ 2
Win16
Win32
Carbon
Cocoa
Vista?
But I’m still…

22. Why choose wxWidgets? Avoids common cross-platform issues Open-source
12 years of evolution
Worldwide community
Many supported platforms
Advanced features

23. Who uses wxWidgets? Open source projects Small businesses
Large organizations:
AMD
AOL (Communicator)
Carnegie-Mellon University
Grisoft (AVG Anti-Virus)
Lockheed Martin
NASA
OSAF - Chandler
Xerox
OSAF’s Chandler (Linux)

25. What’s in the book? Concepts & overviews Class descriptions
Code examples
Discussions
Project setup guides
CD-ROM: code & utilities

26. Conclusion Powerful cross-platform framework Heterogeneous world
Target additional platforms
Agile movement among platforms
wxWidgets book
Questions?