+
| + +How to learn wxWindows programming + + | +
+ +The following is a response by Edward Ream to a common question, +"What's the best way to learn wxWindows [and C++]?".
+
+Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 14:37:06 -0500
+
+> Reading the Linux Journal article on wxpython, and having used wxclips
+
+I'm new to wxWindows myself, but I'd like to answer this question
+anyway. In the past two years I've learned two similar frameworks
+(Apple's Yellow Box, aka NextStep/OpenStep and Borland's C++
+Builder/Delphi) and last year I became a C++ enthusiast after 20 years
+of using C.
+
+About C++.
+
+The major Aha for me was that the complexity of C++ doesn't matter in
+practice. What _does_ matter is that C++ allows you to do simple things
+simply, more simply than C. With a system like wxWindows you will be
+creating objects and then using those objects to call methods. So don't
+be afraid of C++: you'll only be using the easy tip of the
+iceberg.
+
+Besides the C++ Programming Language, by Bjarne Stroustrup, the
+"official" guide to C++, I highly recommend Inside the C++ Object Model,
+by Stanley B. Lippman. (Lipmann was one of the C++ honchos at Bell
+Labs.) This book will tell you what _not_ to do, as well as why
+everything in C++ is as it is. If you are confused by anything in C++,
+Lippman's book is the cure.
+
+About applications frameworks.
+
+Application frameworks such as wxWindows are organized around a set of
+cooperating classes. Take a look at the main application class, wxApp,
+some frame and panel classes, graphics classes, menu classes, control
+classes, etc. In general, to do anything in a framework involves
+creating an object of the specified type, then doing something with that
+object.
+
+For example, suppose you want to create a menu bar. A menu bar is
+composed of a single menu bar object of type(class) wxMenuBar that
+contains menu objects of type wxMenu. Each menu object contains menu
+item objects of type wxMenuItem. So you create the menu bar object,
+then create all the menu objects (creating the menu item objects along
+the way) and finally "attach" the menu objects to the menu bar object
+using a call to the wxMenuBar::Append method.
+
+As an overview I would look at the "Alphabetical class reference"
+section of the reference manual. I find the HTML version to be the
+easiest to use: you can browse very quickly through it. Here's how to
+read this (very large) reference:
+
+
+
+Read some sample code. You will find that almost none of the C++
+language is actually being used; it's just endlessly creating objects
+and then calling methods using those objects.
+
+Learn as much as you can about the String class; after using a good
+String class you'll never want to use C's string functions again.
+wxWindows contains other nifty utilty classes as well.
+
+The application class, wxApp, contains the main event loop. Learn about
+event handling and event tables (reading sample code will help). Almost
+everything in this kind of application framework happens as the result
+of an event and your app is essentially doing nothing but responding to
+events. Having the event loop written for you is a major, major
+benefit.
+
+I hope this helps. Perhaps we can work together in learning about
+wxWindows. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have. If
+I've made any blunders in this posting I hope the wxWindows experts will
+correct me gently.
+
+Edward
+
+
+From: "Edward K. Ream"
+To: wx-users@wxwindows.org
+Subject: Re: [wx-users] How to learn using wx-windows
+Reply-To: wx-users@wxwindows.org
+> I got interested in wxwindows as a development interface. However, the
+> programming experience I got is old, and from a former generation (For-
+> tran). I'd like to refresh my experience and start in C++. Will
+> wx-windows be a very high step to take?
+
+
+Some other tips:
+--------------------------------------------------------------------
+Edward K. Ream email: edream@tds.net
+Leo: Literate Editor with Outlines
+Leo: http://personalpages.tds.net/~edream/front.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------