Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

"KDE 2.0 Development" Is Online (And OPL)

Posted by timothy on from the or-wait-a-few-days-for-the-print-version dept.

kupolu writes: "'KDE 2.0 Development,' a new book being published under the Open Publication License, is now available in full online. Another example of Open-ness at work. A quote from the story says, 'Since the book is released under the Open Publication License, it may be modified and redistributed online, which means that the book can be maintained (fixed, updated, expanded etc.) in the style of a free software project. In this spirit, volunteer translation of the book into five other languages has already begun.'" The book seems to be written in a nice, straightforward way. It starts off by explaining the motivations of the KDE project, but the bulk of the book is a combination of explanations and code examples covering everything from KParts to Mesa and OpenGL to multimedia integration. Happily, this book also serves in part as a user advocate -- programmers are reminded about the importance of readable dialogues and system responsiveness. You can go straight to the book, or check out the excellent andamooka project, which hosts the online version of this soon-available-in-print book.

8 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. This ceases to be a book... by GC · · Score: 3

    Books have certain qualities:

    Books are physical entities written on paper
    Boots are set in stone, they cannot be modified

    To keep on calling this a book is like calling a car a cart.

    -

  2. Re:Not really OPEN by Arandir · · Score: 3

    The *information* is open, not the specific format of a particular copy. If I buy the renewable resource version in paper, I also am unable to modify it without resorting to pencil, pen or crayon.

    --
    A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
  3. Ultimate in Fairness by Arandir · · Score: 3

    Qt is Free Software for Free Software, Open Source for Open Source, and Proprietary for Proprietary. What more could you want?

    Instead of asking yourself if you really want to use a library under the GPL/QPL, instead ask yourself if you want to write an Open or Closed application...

    --
    A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
  4. Re:KDE development in 3 easy steps by Arandir · · Score: 3

    Almost a year ago I posted in the midst of a KDE/GNOME flamewar that it didn't matter what KDE or Trolltech did. They will *never* be accepted by GNU and its sycophants. Now that EVERY stated objection of GNU to KDE is gone, removed, excised and exorcised, I find myself proven correct. These guys just aren't satisified with making their own decisions to use GNOME. With their warped view of freedom, they just can't stand it when people make their own decisions to use KDE.

    --
    A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
  5. Re:KDE development in 3 easy steps by JimDabell · · Score: 3

    QT AFAIK only supports C++

    Wrong. At the very least, there are a good set of bindings for Python, I believe there are also Perl bindings.

    QT is only truly Free on Unix.

    So? It's truly Free, so you can port it yourself if you want to. There's a lot of Unix-only Free software, I don't hear you moaning about how GNOME only runs on Unix.

    GTK works fine on many platforms

    QT works fine on many platforms. X is not required, either.

    Does this increse my freedom as a programmer? (Can I apply skills/knowledge of this undertaking to other projects/applications/platforms?)

    What makes you think that you cannot do this with QT? Trolltech also sells QT under a license that allows non-free programs to be written with QT. How does this magically remove all your knowledge of QT once you have completed a project?

    Does this increase my users freedom? (Can they run in in Windows, etc?)

    QT works on windows. You only need to pay for QT if you develop with it, and don't want to port it yourself.

  6. Now for a free Windows port by Animats · · Score: 3
    TrollTech offers a Windows version for $1500-$1950 per developer. That's too expensive for casual programmers, and it comes from too small a company for use in major projects.

    Anybody planning to offer an open version on Windows?

  7. Open Publication License: free or non-free? by yerricde · · Score: 3

    The Open Publication License 1.0 covering this book can be ./configured as a free or non-free license. The base Open Publication License 1.0 is free; the OPL with either of the Section VI options is not free.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  8. KDE Development.. by iamsure · · Score: 4

    I'm glad to see this book come out. It seems to me that there are not nearly enough quality books on KDE & Gnome programming in general, and definitely not enough for KDE itself.

    In the years to come we are going to need alot of quality tools to help pull programmers out of their reliance on the HUGE pile of high-quality crutches (ie, books on how to program in VB).

    The transition to a free/open software world is not going to be won on the desktop alone. The other half of the fight is going to be for the commercial programmers.

    With the establishment of the Gnome foundation, I was slightly worried that KDE might slow down a little bit. Thankfully, they didnt seem to miss a beat. :)

    --
    GPL'd web-based tradewars themed space game