Hands-On GUI Application Development in Go

Build responsive, cross-platform, graphical applications with the Go programming language

Andrew Williams 지음

Packt(GCO Science) 2019년 04월 30일 출간

작품소개

책소개

▶Book Description
Go is often compared to C++ when it comes to low-level programming and implementations that require faster processing, such as Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). In fact, many claim that Go is superior to C++ in terms of its concurrency and ease of use. Most graphical application toolkits, though, are still written using C or C++, and so they don't enjoy the benefits of using a modern programming language such as Go.

This guide to programming GUIs with Go 1.11 explores the various toolkits available, including UI, Walk, Shiny, and Fyne. The book compares the vision behind each project to help you pick the right approach for your project. Each framework is described in detail, outlining how you can build performant applications that users will love. To aid you further in creating applications using these emerging technologies, you'll be able to easily refer to code samples and screenshots featured in the book. In addition to toolkit-specific discussions, you'll cover more complex topics, such as how to structure growing graphical applications, and how cross-platform applications can integrate with each desktop operating system to create a seamless user experience. By delving into techniques and best practices for organizing and scaling Go-based graphical applications, you'll also glimpse Go's impressive concurrency system. In the concluding chapters, you'll discover how to distribute to the main desktop marketplaces and distribution channels.

By the end of this book, you'll be a confident GUI developer who can use the Go language to boost the performance of your applications.

▶What You Will Learn
？ Understand the benefits and complexities of building native graphical applications
？ Gain insights into how Go makes cross-platform graphical application development simple
？ Build platform-native GUI applications using andlabs/ui
？ Develop graphical Windows applications using Walk
？ Create multiplatform GUI applications using Shiny, Nuklear, and Fyne
？ Use Go wrappers for GTK and Qt for GUI application development
？ Streamline your requirements to pick the correct toolkit strategy

▶Key Features
？ Conceptualize and build state-of-art GUI applications with Golang (Go)
？ Tackle the complexity of varying GUI application sizes with a structured and scalable approach
？ Get hands-on experience of GUI development with Shiny, and labs/ui, Fyne, and Walk

▶Who This Book Is For
This book is designed for Go developers who are interested in building native graphical applications for desktop computers and beyond. Some knowledge of building applications using Go is useful, but not essential. Experience in developing GUIs is not required as the book explores the benefits and challenges they pose. This book will also be beneficial for GUI application developers who are interested in trying Go.

목차

▶TABLE of CONTENTS
？ Section 1: Graphical User Interface Development
1 The Benefits of Native Graphical Applications
2 Graphical User Interface Challenges
3 Go to the Rescue!

？ Section 2: Toolkits Using Existing GUIs
4 Walk - Building Graphical Windows Applications
5 andlabs UI - Cross-platform Native UIs
6 Go-GTK - Multiple Platforms with GTK
7 Go-Qt - Multiple Platforms with Qt

？ Section 3: Modern Graphical Toolkits
8 Shiny - Experimental Go GUI API
9 nk - Nuklear for Go
10 Fyne - Material Design-Based GUI

？ Section 4: Growing and Distributing your Application
11 Navigation and Multiple Windows
12 Concurrency, Networking, and Cloud Services
13 Best Practices in Go GUI Development
14 Distributing Your Application

책 속으로

▶What this book covers
？？ Section 1: Graphical User Interface Development
？ Chapter 1, The Benefits of Native Graphical Applications, contains a re-introduction to the GUI and its role in the modern software ecosystem. It discusses the benefits of coding a native GUI for a responsive user experience and platform integration. By the end of the chapter, you will be comfortable deciding which of your projects would benefit from a native graphical interface.

？ Chapter 2, Graphical User Interface Challenges, shows how GUIs present various challenges to the designer and developer beyond that of a web app or systems application. This chapter will explore the details of the most common challenges, including look and feel, performance, platform integration, and distribution. On completion of this chapter, you will be familiar with the additional complications of building a graphical desktop application, and know what to consider when designing
a GUI.

？ Chapter 3, Go to the Rescue!, shows how the design of the Go language is well suited to solving the challenges described in the previous chapter. It will demonstrate how the Go language, despite not having a standard user interface API, has all the required constructs to ease development of graphical applications. At the end of this chapter, you will be ready to progress to the detailed toolkit API descriptions that follow in

？？ Section 2, Toolkits Using Existing GUIs.
？ Chapter 4, Walk - Building Graphical Windows Applications, discusses Walk, which is a Windows Application Library Kit for the Go programming language. This chapter covers API design, common usage patterns, and how to use the library as part of a multiplatform strategy. You will learn how to build a simple Windows application using the Walk toolkit through examples and illustrations.

？ Chapter 5, andlabs UI ？ Cross-Platform Native UIs, explores Andlabs UI, which is a popular GUI toolkit that uses the existing graphical technologies on each of the platforms it supports. This chapter discusses the benefits of such an approach and shows how the API is designed. You will learn how to build a simple application using the andlabs UI toolkit through examples and illustrations.

？ Chapter 6, Go-GTK ？ Multiple Platforms with GTK, here, Go-GTK examines the Go language bindings for GTK+, a multi-platform toolkit for creating GUIs. GTK+ supports many platforms and comes preinstalled on many environments. In this chapter, we look at the details of the GTK+ toolkit, the platforms it supports, and how to make use of it in your application. You will learn how to build a simple application using the Go-GTK API through examples and illustrations.

？ Chapter 7, Go-Qt ？ Multiple Platforms with QT, explains that Go-Qt allows you to write Qt-based graphical applications in Go. Qt is a cross-platform application framework that is used for developing applications that can be run on various software and hardware platforms. In this chapter, we look at the details of the Qt framework, the platforms it supports, and how to make use of it in your application. You will learn how to build a simple application using the Go-Qt API through examples and illustrations.

？？ Section 3: Modern Graphical Toolkits
？ Chapter 8, Shiny ？ Go's Experimental API, looks at the Shiny project, an experimental GUI library written in pure Go, and is designed to create portable apps that have a consistent look across multiple platforms. This chapter explores how to write portable cross-platform applications with Shiny. You will learn how to build a simple crossplatform graphical application using the Shiny APIs through examples and illustrations.

？ Chapter 9, nk ？ Nuklear for Go, explains that Nuklear is a lightweight widget library that focuses purely on the graphical interface (rather than window management and platform integration) to create an easy-to-use API. The graphical interface, originally designed for embedded ...

출판사 서평

▶ Preface
Since the 1.0 release of the Go programming language in 2012, developers have enjoyed the increased productivity brought by the easy-to-read, quick-to-learn, cross-platform design of Go. Web apps and system utilities around the world are being built with Go to rapidly deliver reliable performance. Learning the language is easy, due to its centralized documentation and great programming environment support. Creating Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) with Go, however, is still very new and there is not yet a standardized UI toolkit.

This definitive guide to programming GUIs with Go explores the most popular GUI packages available. It compares the vision behind each toolkit to help you pick the right approach for your project. Each toolkit is described in detail, outlining how to build beautiful, performant applications that users will love. Code samples and screenshots will aid any level of Go developer to create applications using these emerging technologies.

인물정보

저자(글) Andrew Williams

Andrew Williams has over 15 years of commercial software development experience across a variety of programming languages, including Java, C, Objective-C, and Go. He has been a core developer in large open source projects such as Enlightenment, EFL, and Maven, as well as maintaining various community websites and tutorials. Since 2007, Andrew has been working as CTO with many early-stage and growing software start-ups. After 6 years spent expanding an award-winning mobile app development company, he is now applying the lessons he has learned to cross-platform desktop applications using Go. Andrew is passionate about building tools and services that make software development simpler and improve productivity, as well as making it easier to become a great software engineer.