Book Image

Hands-On GUI Application Development in Go

By : Andrew Williams
Book Image

Hands-On GUI Application Development in Go

By: Andrew Williams

Overview of this book

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.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
About Packt
Contributors
Preface
Comparison of GUI Toolkits
Index

GUIs and visual hierarchy


The graphical language and common visual layouts of software have evolved a lot over the recent history of consumer software products and continues to evolve. Each operating system and graphical toolkit focuses on usability while attempting to have a unique look. These principles have driven each platform in slightly different directions, which impacts the software we write and the content we present.

Multiple documents

Let's first look at the ways that applications can handle multiple concurrent documents. These interfaces all aim to present a way to work with many documents at the same time. Whether it's a word processor, an image editor, or a web browser, there are many ways to approach this. An operating system typically has a default behavior that application developers are encouraged to use (sometimes by promoting enhanced usability with the latest changes, and other times by adding or removing APIs within their respective toolkits). These interface preferences...