Which graphical environment (MFC, ATL, QT etc.) should I concentrate on, in order to be more employable? I don't want to spend months learning something only to discover that "no one" really use this or this really sucks, and "all" pros are using only such and such.
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This is a good question, it would be nice to hear some comments from developers in the field. – zdav Apr 25 '10 at 19:17
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Are there any constraints? What kinds of applications will you be developing? Are you limited to an operating system, or open to all? – Michael Petrotta Apr 25 '10 at 19:20
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@Michael I would like to stick with Windows mainly to the reason that I really love Visual Studio and C++ – There is nothing we can do Apr 25 '10 at 19:22
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Qt is I think the most interesting.
- The API is very nice
- the documentation is excellent
- Friendly licence (LGPL)
- The IDE (QtCreator, but you don't have to use it at all) is simple but efficient
- It very multiplateform (Win, Linux, MacOSX) and gives a native feeling on those platforms, and recently
- Big Companies use it (Google Earth, Opera, Skype...)
- Since it has been bought by Nokia, the development is rocket fast
quamrana
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Tristram Gräbener
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1@Dennis: Qt re-implements a great deal of the standard library, and generally only supports their versions. So you can't use std::vector, you have to use QVector for most Qt functions. There's a good discussion of it here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1668259/stl-or-qt-containers – Inverse Apr 25 '10 at 21:48
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It is true that Qt re-invents a lots of things (from STL but also from boost). I agree it is sad... However, the good side is that it is more an more object oriented so easier to get into than generic programming. For people with C or java background it has a nice learning curve (but IMHO it's not the best approach... but it is an endless debate of opinions) – Tristram Gräbener Apr 25 '10 at 23:11
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Take a look at WPF. It is the successor to Mircrosoft's MFC. Mastering it could provided you a qualification "older" programmers might not have yet.
Danvil
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1@Danvil I think you can't use WPF while programming in C++ or am I wrong? – There is nothing we can do Apr 25 '10 at 19:24
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1There is "managed C++" which compiles down to MSIL, so this is possible. But not without running on .NET, of course. – Thomas Apr 25 '10 at 19:37
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2It's got a nice designer that auto-generates code, real time saver. But it cannot generate C++/CLI. If the language matters for some reason then WPF isn't a good choice. – Hans Passant Apr 25 '10 at 20:59
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Regardless of the technology, I would make sure that you understand and can demonstrate sound programming practises surrounding implementing solutions in these technologies (e.g. separation of concerns, understanding the MVC pattern).
Toolkits come and go, but those practises are key. I would happily hire someone with an understanding of these despite their lack of knowledge in my particular chosen toolkit.
Brian Agnew
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I would also add wxWidgets and eclipse Rich client platform.
when I last looked at it, wx was somewhat simpler than QT.
On the other hand, eclipse RCP provides a lot of functionality right out of the box, however it is overkill for small projects.
Anycorn
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Compare the number of jobs on various employment web sites for each technology you are asking. I believe MFC is still in most demand, but may be wrong.
Nemanja Trifunovic
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