Tool: Stop to make GUI with Java .... Use Qt 5 !!

Hi,

There are many free software for bioinformatics people, and many of them use Java as the GUI programming language. All of them have very good features, and we all probably use one of them. But Java make the GUI ugly, unresponsive, it is very slow, it depends of java and you have a non zero probably to crash it cause of the memory usage! I don't say anything about the language, but you probably understand why!

So, I suggest you all to switch to the Qt5 framework !

Qt (Cute) is a C++ framework that works everywhere : Linux, Mac , windows and also mobile, tablet or embedded devices. It uses LGPL license (there is also a commercial license).

If you are afraid of C++, don't worry! Qt has a very high level language, and it's very easy to understand! It also provides a Really good IDE (Qt creator)! And it's far away from the worst IDE of all the time (Eclipse). There is also a new declarative Language called "QML" which help you to design the graphics interface! You keep C++ for the logic! It's awesome, my grand mother would be able to design a nice interface ! :D

For example, you will be able to:

Communicate with REST API using QtNetwork! And even play with WebSocket
Create a web client in few lines
Use the power of OpenGL 3 easily, and from any OS! Shaders are so fun!
Use the Model & View class to display really really big dataset as list, table or tree!
Create nice and fast interface using C++ or the new awesome declarative language: QML
On supported devices: Bluetooth, GPS, Map, Accelerometer, camera etc.
Use QMatrix, QTransform, QQuaternion and enjoy mathematics!
Draw using QPainter or QGraphicsScene or openGL
Play with Mysql, sqlite, Postgre and even more!

If you want to have a taste, here are software made or has switch to Qt:

Alamut visual: Commercial human genome browser ! Really Really nice!
robomongo: if you want to play with mongodb
VirtualBox: The virtualisation tool
KDE: the graphic desktop environement
ubuntu touch: the mobile phone
vlc: the video player
Speedcrunch: a lovely calculator
Spotify: commercial music player
Wireshark: has switched recently
QCustomPlot [ LIBRARY ]: if you love charts!
pyQt: Qt with Python
Qml-Material [ LIBRARY ]: make an android application with the native look & feel
ZodiakGraph[ LIBRARY ]: if you like play with graphs!
ZeGrapher: graphics calculator
BioQt [ LIBRARY ]: he starts the project
Github : Every library which start with a Q!

Some videos to watch:

QtQuick .. amazing
QtQuick + instant shaders programming: Completely awesome
Qml material: google design rule

So, start now by downloading Qt [http://www.qt.io/] and try your first tutorial: http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/gettingstartedqt.html

Have fun! And say "Goodbye java"!

qt java

• 22,040 views • link

updated 4.0 years ago by Ram

• written 10.7 years ago by sacha

But Java make the GUI ugly, unresponsive, it is very slow, it depends of java and you have a non zero probably to crash it cause of the memory usage! I don't say anything about the language, but you probably understand why!

-> troll

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updated 4.0 years ago by Ram

• written 10.7 years ago by Pierre Lindenbaum

yes! A big Qtroll! C++ apps crashs too ! But it still faster than java all the time !

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written 10.7 years ago by sacha

I also like to troll back:

Qt/C++ is not lightweight, e.g., for what do I need Bluetooth support?
Why develop bioinformatics apps for mobile devices?
Qt depends on C++ which is slow compared to C
Qt apps are less responsive than GTK apps
Qt apps are ugly compared to GTK apps
... I don't say more but you probably understand my point! :-p

I hope, I made my point in rejecting Qt for the same arguments that you use to reject Java... Some of the arguments might be valid, for some you might find benchmarks falsifying my statement but if you try to falsify the above points, you didn't got my main message here ;-)

Having trolled like that, I like to also add a more adult answer: every GUI framework is bloated in some way and we (as programmers) should think more about the design than the language. In fact, you can write good GUIs in Java but often people in science crunch things together as they need it, e.g., because a reviewer requests a GUI. For this reason, a GUI is often one of the last things, most academics - from student to professor - think about. But, there are full professorships in Informatics that research on a good interfaces - let it be desktop or website. This shows that GUI development is not an easy task and consequently you should put more effort into proper design to get something good. And this does not one the actual framework that you use but on you as a good programmer...

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updated 4.0 years ago by Ram

• written 10.7 years ago by Manuel Landesfeind

Qt/C++ is lightweight than java!
Qt is first design for desktop and support mobile like android/java!
Qt depends on C++ which is faster than Java
Qt apps are more responsive than GTK, cause the backend works on openGL
Qt apps are nicer than GTK apps, because it fit all native OS

But I just wanted to share my love for Qt and share it with you ! No offense! Have a try, you will fall in love!

• 0 views • link

updated 6.7 years ago by Ram

• written 10.7 years ago by sacha

I shouldn't, but I can't resist:

Stop to make GUI with anything .... Use command-line !!

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updated 4.0 years ago by Ram

• written 10.7 years ago by h.mon

3 answers

C++ is a big obstacle to some programmers. As much as I dislike Java, for common programmers, Java is easier to learn and less likely to blow your feet off. Yes, Java is a memory hog, but the GUI applications I see in our field do not require much RAM anyway. More importantly, Java is often "compile once, run anywhere". The same can't be said for C++ programs, especially when they have a 700MB dependency on Qt – don't underestimate the headaches on compilation and installation on those "managed" linux clusters. As I just tried Bandage, a Qt based assembly viewer, its Linux binary does not run on CentOS5/6. It is hard.

Qt is good and gaining ground, but Java is still a good option for GUI programming.

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written 10.7 years ago by lh3

http://www.qt.io/ This is the right URL

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written 10.7 years ago by Antonio R. Franco

To Complete my arguments, let's have a look on a piece of code on the new QML script language:

import QtQuick 2.0

Rectangle {
    id: page
    width: 320; height: 480
    color: "lightgray"

    Text {
        id: helloText
        text: "Hello world!"
        y: 30
        anchors.horizontalCenter: page.horizontalCenter
        font.pointSize: 24; font.bold: true
    }
}