The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group GNOME 2 Developer’s Guide Major Keary |
Acronyms and other names beginning with 'G' are ubiquitous in the Linux world (Ghostscript, GTK+, GLib, GObject, and so on) and GNOME is one of them. The `G', of course, stands for 'GNU' (GNU's Not Unix), and GNOME is an acronym for GNU Network Object Model Environment. "The Gnome project began in 1997 as a way to bring free software to the computer desktop [and] today . is one of the most used desktops in the world. . Gnome is unique because, from the beginning, it had a strong focus on creating a development platform to provide services for applications: services that developers typically expect to find on their operating systems" [Miguel de Icaza in foreword to The Official GNOME 2 Developer's Guide].
Linux distributions come with one or more (or even all) of three alternative desktop environments: GNOME, KDE (K desktop environment), and fvwm2, of which GNOME seems to be the most popular. Ordinary users are usually quite satisfied to accept its default values, but GNOME (like the other two) can be programmed to build GNOME applications.
The Developer's Guide has been written for programmers and requires knowledge of C and an understanding of Unix processes. In short, this is not a how-to manual for end users, but a text for developers. The original version was written in German and has been translated for this English edition.
The style is tutorial, but the book will serve as an ongoing reference. An 'information-dense' text that is particularly well-written; it makes extensive use of annotated examples, and makes minimal use of screen shots. The book covers the GLib standard data structures; Glade and libglade; GConf; GnomeVFS; and a number of development tools.
It is interesting to know that a portion of sales proceeds will be donated to the Gnome Foundation.
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Matthias Warkus: The Official GNOME 2 Developer's Guide ISBN 1-59327-030-5 Published by No Starch Press, 497 pp., RRP $79.95 incl. GST |
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Reprinted from the September 2004 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
