doc/src/getting-started/how-to-learn-qt.qdoc
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/****************************************************************************
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**
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** Copyright (C) 2009 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
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** All rights reserved.
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** Contact: Nokia Corporation (qt-info@nokia.com)
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**
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** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
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**
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** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:LGPL$
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** No Commercial Usage
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** This file contains pre-release code and may not be distributed.
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** You may use this file in accordance with the terms and conditions
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** contained in the Technology Preview License Agreement accompanying
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** this package.
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**
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** GNU Lesser General Public License Usage
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** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Lesser
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** General Public License version 2.1 as published by the Free Software
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** Foundation and appearing in the file LICENSE.LGPL included in the
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** packaging of this file.  Please review the following information to
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** ensure the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 requirements
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** will be met: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html.
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**
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** In addition, as a special exception, Nokia gives you certain additional
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** rights.  These rights are described in the Nokia Qt LGPL Exception
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** version 1.1, included in the file LGPL_EXCEPTION.txt in this package.
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**
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** If you have questions regarding the use of this file, please contact
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** Nokia at qt-info@nokia.com.
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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** $QT_END_LICENSE$
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**
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****************************************************************************/
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/*!
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    \page how-to-learn-qt.html
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    \title How to Learn Qt
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    \brief Links to guides and resources for learning Qt.
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    \nextpage Tutorials
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    \section1 Getting Started
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    We assume that you already know C++ and will be using it for Qt
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    development. See the \l{Qt website} for more information about
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    using other programming languages with Qt.
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    If you want to program purely in C++, designing your interfaces
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    in code without the aid of any design tools, take a look at the
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    \l{Tutorials}. These are designed to get you into Qt programming,
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    with an emphasis on working code rather than being a tour of features.
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    If you want to design your user interfaces using a design tool, then
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    read at least the first few chapters of the \l{Qt Designer manual}.
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    By now you'll have produced some small working applications and have a
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    broad feel for Qt programming. You could start work on your own
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    projects straight away, but we recommend reading a couple of key
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    overviews to deepen your understanding of Qt: \l{Qt Object Model}
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    and \l{Signals and Slots}.
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    \beginfloatleft
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    \inlineimage qtdemo-small.png
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    \endfloat
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    \section1 Getting an Overview
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    At this point, we recommend looking at the
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    \l{All Overviews and HOWTOs}{overviews} and reading those that are
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    relevant to your projects. You may also find it useful to browse the
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    source code of the \l{Qt Examples}{examples} that have things in
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    common with your projects. You can also read Qt's source code since
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    this is supplied.
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    If you run the \l{Examples and Demos Launcher}, you'll see many of Qt's
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    widgets in action.
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    The \l{Qt Widget Gallery} also provides overviews of selected Qt
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    widgets in each of the styles used on various supported platforms.
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    \clearfloat
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    \section1 Books and Learning Materials
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    Qt comes with extensive documentation, with hypertext
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    cross-references throughout, so you can easily click your way to
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    whatever interests you. The part of the documentation that you'll
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    probably use the most is the \link index.html API
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    Reference\endlink. Each link provides a different way of
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    navigating the API Reference; try them all to see which work best
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    for you. You might also like to try \l{Qt Assistant}:
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    this tool is supplied with Qt and provides access to the entire
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    Qt API, and it provides a full text search facility.
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    There are also a growing number of books about Qt programming.
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    We recommend the official Qt book,
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    \l{http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0132354160/ref=ase_trolltech/}{C++
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    GUI Programming with Qt 4, Second Edition} (ISBN 0-13-235416-0). This book
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    provides comprehensive coverage of Qt programming all the way
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    from "Hello Qt" to advanced features such as multithreading, 2D and
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    3D graphics, networking, item view classes, and XML. (The first edition,
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    which is based on Qt 4.1, is available
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    \l{http://www.qtrac.eu/C++-GUI-Programming-with-Qt-4-1st-ed.zip}{online}.)
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    See \l{Books about Qt Programming} for a complete list of Qt books,
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    including translations to various languages.
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    Another valuable source of example code and explanations of Qt
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    features is the archive of articles from \l{Qt Quarterly}, a quarterly newsletter for users of Qt.
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    For documentation on specific Qt modules and other guides, refer to
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    \l{All Overviews and HOWTOs}.
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    \section1 Further Reading
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    Qt has an active and helpful user community who communicate using
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    the \l{Qt Mailing Lists}{qt-interest} mailing list, the \l{Qt Centre}
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    Web site, and a number of other community Web sites and Weblogs.
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    In addition, many Qt developers are active members of the
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    \l{KDE}{KDE community}.
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    Good luck, and have fun!
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*/