Thread: what is the best standard C libary for ubuntu?

Originally Posted by MK27

Actually GTK is cross-platform as well. AFAIK, glut is not tho. The GTK openGL extension does not appear to use glut.

I thought the main point of GLUT was to support cross-platform OpenGL programming?

Originally Posted by bithub

I thought the main point of GLUT was to support cross-platform OpenGL programming?

YES! Sorry, you are correct. All those books were not written just for linux users!

I was mixed up slightly because of course the chapters on "OGL without glut" are divided into linux, windows, and mac. I had it in my head I'd just been following the linux part, silly me.

So yeah, that is the further point of glut -- to provide a uniform standard for the window management...however, this may be where the glut/freeglut distinction became an issue, since originally freeglut may not have been available for windows (methinks it is now), qv:

http://freeglut.sourceforge.net/index.php#download

Which basically explains that it is a 100% compatible replacement AND that it is an improvement. In my experience, there are no issues there. zacs7 is just a silly fool.

Originally Posted by fronty

Yes it is, but it's not meant to be used by people who care about their mental health. And Qt isn't just a toolkit, it provides much more.

Oh come on. If you are worth your salt, you can deal with the treeview! After that it is mostly tea and crumpets.

Plus Qt is butt-ugly

Vis, "so much more", GTK is build on glib which is built with pthreads, I think these are portable too. glib is quite a monster if you like built in complex datatypes, threaded timers, threaded file handle/socket monitors, etc.

I'm rather positive that glut works on Linux, Mac, and Windows (maybe others, IDK).

@OP
To compile via command line without make just use

Code:

g++ -o myprogram mysource.cpp -lSDL

However, I suggest you get acquainted with an IDE or learn to use automake && autoconfig as they will make your life much easier.

Check out lazyfoo for great SDL tutorials.
Checkout VTR for good Glut/OGL tutorials.

Also, I'm just starting to learn c++, so I would not call myself a graphics expert (or any other sort of expert). So take any advice I give you with caution

cs_student

Originally Posted by cs_student

However, I suggest you get acquainted with an IDE or learn to use automake && autoconfig as they will make your life much easier.

I would suggest the opposite -- it is hard to understand what on earth you would need an IDE or automake for when learning intro 3D programming.

But I'm no expert either.

2D graphics with the SDL: The SDL is a cross-platform C library with bindings to other languages. One of my favourites.

I'll recommend the Lazy Foo tutorials a third time. Compiling an SDL program is usually done with a command line like

Code:

$ gcc `sdl-config --cflags` *.c -o program `sdl-config --libs`

If you're lazy like me, you could probably get away with

Code:

$ gcc -I /usr/include/SDL *.c -o program -lSDL

The command-line suggested above, namely

Code:

g++ -o myprogram mysource.cpp -lSDL

works too if you #include <SDL/SDL.h>, but not if you use <SDL.h> or "SDL.h". The latter is recommended.

3D graphics with OpenGL: OpenGL is just the way to go if you want 3D graphics.

You can use [free-]glut if you like, or the SDL, or Qt to provide a wrapper around your OpenGL code. Those three are just the ones I've used, there are certainly others. Freeglut is definitely the simplest, I'd suggest starting there.

Compiling an OpenGL program can usually be done with a command-line like

Code:

$ gcc *.c -o program -lGL

Add -lGLu if you're using GLu, and add -lglut if you're using [free-]glut.

GUI programming with Qt: I must say I've never used Qt 4 to any large degree, but I have used Qt 3, and it's a very nice toolkit. Qt is C++, cross-platform, and with a large number of available widgets built-in. Qt 3 is apparently a pain to get to work on Windows, but I assume Qt 4 is easier.

GUI programming with GTK+ or wxWidgets: Sorry, never tried those, I can't really help you there. GTK+ is a C library, and wxWidgets is a C++ one.

I'll recommend the Lazy Foo tutorials a third time.

Yes, everyone does. But those are C++ tutorials, the OP is asking about C.

There is very little material on SDL in C on the web, beyond their official stuff (which is good):
http://sdl.beuc.net/sdl.wiki/HelpContents

I also have a long, well put together, very in-depth HTML'ified thing called the "SDL Library Documentation", but I do not know where I got it -- the only thing I've done with SDL was the tuxpaint patch hack, and that helped much there.

I notice that if you google "SDL Library Documentation" there are some possible online & pdf versions around.

I have a suspicion the people who did that (SDLdoc) created the help wiki since some of the text is word for word, while the old SDLdoc address is defunct.

And, once again, if you are using OGL with glut on linux, you need to link to X as well:

gcc test.c -lglut -lGLU -lGL -lXext -lX11

Originally Posted by MK27

And, once again, if you are using OGL with glut on linux, you need to link to X as well:

gcc test.c -lglut -lGLU -lGL -lXext -lX11

Interesting. Perhaps you do sometimes, but you don't have to on my laptop nor the two desktop machines I've tried. I presume all machines I mentioned are using freeglut and a Mesa implementation of OpenGL.

Originally Posted by dwks

Interesting. Perhaps you do sometimes, but you don't have to on my laptop nor the two desktop machines I've tried. I presume all machines I mentioned are using freeglut and a Mesa implementation of OpenGL.

Yeah, me too. I had all those flags in an environment variable to make it easy. I just noticed this does not work

gcc test.c -lGL
without -lglut, but sensibly enough

gcc test.c -lglut
does work all on it's own. So I guess the -lX11 flags aren't necessary.