How to make your own web browser in Linux ?

[.William.]

Hi there.

In Windows I do some (casual) programming in Visual Basic .Net using Visual Basic Express and itś also great fun to do.
Recently I made a web browser created for specific usage purposes.
Specific preset search buttons etc.
Now I would like to do the same in Linux.

My question is :
What is the best and easiest way to accomplish the same in Linux ?
What tools are available in the Open Source market or as Freeware ?

[Mozenrath]

If you're familiar with VB.net, you might want to try Gambas, which is conceptually similar. I don't know exactly how you'd accomplish making a web browser that way, but there is a web browser sample that comes with it.(crashes every time I try to execute it though)

[markfiend]

Writing my own browser (in Python) is actually something I have considered trying (as a personal project, not ever releasing the code "in the wild").

Python includes the Tkinter module (which is a Python binding to the Tk toolkit) for the GUI, the urllib module for retrieving data from the web, that's a basis from which to start at least.

IMO Python is an ideal language to learn in the open-source world. IIRC a lot of Mint's tools are written in it. It combines power with simplicity, and shouldn't be too hard for someone with knowledge of BASIC to get started with.

[alpha1]

why do python applications take up more RAM than corresponding C or C++ ones?

[randomizer]

Probably due to the differences between a compiled and interpreted language, and maybe the differences in how each manages memory. I don't know if Python requires explicit memory management like C/C++, which allow fine-grained control over how much memory is used, but also leave room for memory leaks.

[markfiend]

I don't know if Python requires explicit memory management like C/C++,

I think you can do it but you don't have to.

[.William.]

Thanks for the replies ! They are all very usable to me.
Maybe I should start with Gambas and/or TkInter and see which one feels better to me.
Mastering basic understanding of programming within Linux/Unix is my primary goal, and I think if I can create a web browser, like I have in VB.net, I may have made a true start with getting to be more familiar with the subject.
Ofcourse if there are other, perhaps even better suggestions, I am still very interested to hear about those too.

[DrHu]

gambas is a good choice if you are familiar with basic as a language..
Tkinker isn't a good choice, it has an older style UNIX like interface, looks like a DOS or OS2 or mainframe like applications, not as GUI as you might like
--or you can use widows style widgets to create a cross patform application wxwidget

Another view might be to switch languages, learning something new, such as
java (like C), C (the standard language now used for systems and applications), pyhton (scripting) Ruby (scripting
--web frameworks based on python, ruby or java

Even .net framework using Mono in Mint is also possible

Create a web browser in ..
http://www.tuxradar.com/content/code-pr ... erver-ruby

[.William.]

Hi DrHu,

Thanks for your suggestions, they are worth looking into.
I did already know about the different languages in existence, but it can be rather difficult to decide which is the best to start with if you want to learn new things. Java and C++ seem very interesting. Sometimes it's the websites of these languages that are so inaccessible that you think the language must be the same.

Ideally what I would like to do is open up the Firefox web browser coding in an application similar to VB Express and edit it to suit my needs. I don't believe in reinventing things if it isn't necessary. And by editing something existing you can learn a lot about the language used. But I can only find the Gecko source code available. Kinda weird as Firefox is advertised as being open source software. My reason for wanting to rather edit FF is that it would enable me to use add-ons like AdBlock Plus or Google Analytics Opt-Out, which are tools I can't do without anymore.

I am confident that I will find the right way to accomplish what I want to do and have fun doing so.

[markfiend]

Tkinker isn't a good choice, it has an older style UNIX like interface, looks like a DOS or OS2 or mainframe like applications, not as GUI as you might like

The reason I recommended tkinter (in Python) is that the resultant applications are platform-agnostic. I can run a python/tkinter program on Windows, Mac or Linux. Most of the other GUI bindings in python are for either gtk or Qt or Windows or Mac.

Although in researching this post I've found out about wxPython which looks as though it's better than TK