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Qt 6.2 LTS Released

21 points by em3rgent0rdr 5y ago

GekkePrutser 5y ago
Nice to see that Qt is still going strong. I wonder when KDE will start using Qt 6?
- ldng 5y ago
  When Qt 6 reach feature parity (right now it is a 5 light) AND when The Qt Company stops being a dick to the community. I don't see this happening anytime soon.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    Aha see, I had no idea of these things happening behind the scenes. I'm a heavy KDE user but I don't follow the development closely (though I'm always on the latest version). Thanks for explaining!
j1elo 5y ago
Qt is usually touted in HN as one of the ideal alternatives to Electron for the myriad of simple / CRUD-style applications that people decide to use Electron for. While I agree that Qt is an excellent tool in itself, and I love using it for development, it remains a fact that people wanting to use it will need to first learn a not so excellent programming language, C++ [1]. And that's a very steep entry barrier for most people, before even starting to approach the toolkit itself! (there's also the option to write Qt apps with Python, but that comes with its own set of challenges) [1]: I'm a C++ programmer myself, had used Qt for a bunch of years, and would like to see it used more... but I also understand that C++ must be a horribly complex language for someone who comes from Java or Typescript; and anyway IMHO C++ is the wrong tool for the job when writing a non-specialized application, without lots of data processing, or where the utmost performance is not a priority, i.e. 99% of desktop apps that get written.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Is there no way to interface to Qt from other languages? Like Rust? I agree I really like Qt apps. They have a consistent UI and they tend to fit in fairly well into native OS environments. And indeed they are amazingly more efficient than electron apps. One of the ones I use in all OSes is QtPass.
  - CogitoCogito 5y ago
    There are python bindings that I’ve found quite nice. I’ve also used the C++ bindings and found them fine. C++ is complicated, but you don’t need to make your app complicated because of that.
  - j1elo 5y ago
    Actually your question made me look for the language binding pages of Qt and Gtk... I was going to say that alternative language support was much better in Gtk thanks to it having a C API as opposed to Qt with a C++ API (because C is much easier to interface with from other languages) But now that I see it, seems that Qt has a quite interesting list of language bindings! Qt: https://wiki.qt.io/Language_Bindings https://wiki.qt.io/Language_Bindings Gtk: https://www.gtk.org/docs/language-bindings/index https://www.gtk.org/docs/language-bindings/index
    - TingPing 5y ago
      Note that gtk table is for the best supported and most used ones, gtk still has a dozen unlisted bindings.
- slezyr 5y ago
  This is why they keep pushing QML and published a free book for it: https://www.qt.io/product/qt6/qml-book https://www.qt.io/product/qt6/qml-book
- Nicksil 5y ago
  >it remains a fact that people wanting to use it will need to first learn a not so excellent programming language And to be able to develop with Electron people must first learn a not so excellent language, JavaScript. Complexity might be a better argument but even then, with Qt's API, most of any usual implementation can be developed with their simple, consistent interfaces; largely avoiding C++'s hidden/nuanced complexity.
voakbasda 5y ago
The newest Qt has become irrelevant for most companies that build embedded products. The GPLv3 got mixed in with 5.7, and all of my customers are stuck on a fork of 5.6. They will never upgrade. Given that licensing situation, I am unlikely to ever touch newer versions.

Qt 6.2 LTS Released

21 points by em3rgent0rdr 5y ago

GekkePrutser 5y ago

Nice to see that Qt is still going strong. I wonder when KDE will start using Qt 6?

ldng 5y ago
When Qt 6 reach feature parity (right now it is a 5 light) AND when The Qt Company stops being a dick to the community. I don't see this happening anytime soon.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Aha see, I had no idea of these things happening behind the scenes. I'm a heavy KDE user but I don't follow the development closely (though I'm always on the latest version). Thanks for explaining!

j1elo 5y ago

Qt is usually touted in HN as one of the ideal alternatives to Electron for the myriad of simple / CRUD-style applications that people decide to use Electron for. While I agree that Qt is an excellent tool in itself, and I love using it for development, it remains a fact that people wanting to use it will need to first learn a not so excellent programming language, C++ [1]. And that's a very steep entry barrier for most people, before even starting to approach the toolkit itself! (there's also the option to write Qt apps with Python, but that comes with its own set of challenges) [1]: I'm a C++ programmer myself, had used Qt for a bunch of years, and would like to see it used more... but I also understand that C++ must be a horribly complex language for someone who comes from Java or Typescript; and anyway IMHO C++ is the wrong tool for the job when writing a non-specialized application, without lots of data processing, or where the utmost performance is not a priority, i.e. 99% of desktop apps that get written.

GekkePrutser 5y ago
Is there no way to interface to Qt from other languages? Like Rust? I agree I really like Qt apps. They have a consistent UI and they tend to fit in fairly well into native OS environments. And indeed they are amazingly more efficient than electron apps. One of the ones I use in all OSes is QtPass.
- CogitoCogito 5y ago
  There are python bindings that I’ve found quite nice. I’ve also used the C++ bindings and found them fine. C++ is complicated, but you don’t need to make your app complicated because of that.
- j1elo 5y ago
  Actually your question made me look for the language binding pages of Qt and Gtk... I was going to say that alternative language support was much better in Gtk thanks to it having a C API as opposed to Qt with a C++ API (because C is much easier to interface with from other languages) But now that I see it, seems that Qt has a quite interesting list of language bindings! Qt: https://wiki.qt.io/Language_Bindings https://wiki.qt.io/Language_Bindings Gtk: https://www.gtk.org/docs/language-bindings/index https://www.gtk.org/docs/language-bindings/index
  - TingPing 5y ago
    Note that gtk table is for the best supported and most used ones, gtk still has a dozen unlisted bindings.
slezyr 5y ago
This is why they keep pushing QML and published a free book for it: https://www.qt.io/product/qt6/qml-book https://www.qt.io/product/qt6/qml-book
Nicksil 5y ago
>it remains a fact that people wanting to use it will need to first learn a not so excellent programming language And to be able to develop with Electron people must first learn a not so excellent language, JavaScript. Complexity might be a better argument but even then, with Qt's API, most of any usual implementation can be developed with their simple, consistent interfaces; largely avoiding C++'s hidden/nuanced complexity.

voakbasda 5y ago

The newest Qt has become irrelevant for most companies that build embedded products. The GPLv3 got mixed in with 5.7, and all of my customers are stuck on a fork of 5.6. They will never upgrade. Given that licensing situation, I am unlikely to ever touch newer versions.