Questions about developing apps for Linux.

[GARRETT1]

Hi Folks, I'm a Software Engineer (30+ years). I'm fluent in about 7 different programming languages... Although, I'm retired now...I would like to develop some GUI Apps for Linux. With regard to that - What's good? What are the favorite language/s? Are there any developer suites/tools? Any advise to start me off?

[deepakdeshp]

Please see https://codedamn.com/news/linux/top-10- ... tem-admins

https://www.google.com/search?q=develop ... plications

[furt7]

I had the same question as you do. I didn't like GTK or QT's programming model at all. For me the optimal way is to run web UIs with a desktop framework (Electron.js or Tauri), plus some React.js or Svelte or any other framework you like.

[GARRETT1]

Please see https://codedamn.com/news/linux/top-10- ... tem-admins

https://www.google.com/search?q=develop ... plications

Thanks, I see 3 IDE's that I would like to look at, at one of the links above...

[Midnight True]

i would recommend packaging your app as flatpak in that way it can be easily deployed and have less issue with native runtime/dependencies, please check this out https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/ and https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/first-build.html

AppImage is an option too but to my knowledge it is less popular than flatpak. Wish you all the best and i am excited to try your app

[GARRETT1]

i would recommend packaging your app as flatpak in that way it can be easily deployed and have less issue with native runtime/dependencies, please check this out https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/ and https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/first-build.html

AppImage is an option too but to my knowledge it is less popular than flatpak. Wish you all the best and i am excited to try your app

Thanks, I'll give that a try, when that phase comes around. Funny you should mention flatpak. I wss just trying to install Eclipse IDE and it won't install on Cinnamon 20.2? Say's something about not having a new enough flatpak version?

[Midnight True]

Your welcome i guess your system is using an outdated flatpak framework, please share the output of:

Code: Select all

flatpak --version

Current stable version is 1.14.4
unfortunately the package on the repo is behind, consider using flatpak PPA

[dave0808]

What are the favorite language/s? Are there any developer suites/tools? Any advise to start me off?

You could have a look at Mint's git repo (https://github.com/linuxmint) which may give you some ideas. I'm sure they'd welcome some help from an experienced developer where you can get some first-hand experience before going off to write something new.

[AndyMH]

If you want to go on the fringe, have a look at lazarus, an IDE for pascal. Very easy to develop GUI apps.

[GARRETT1]

If you want to go on the fringe, have a look at lazarus, an IDE for pascal. Very easy to develop GUI apps.

Thanks Andy, I'll check that out. I'm an old-school (main-frame) COBOL programmer. PASCAL is real blast-from-the-past! Never programmed in it, but
I can read it fine... Do we have a COBOL compiler for Linux??? I'll have to look... Peace!

[GARRETT1]

Your welcome i guess your system is using an outdated flatpak framework, please share the output of:

Code: Select all

flatpak --version

Current stable version is 1.14.4
unfortunately the package on the repo is behind, consider using flatpak PPA

So, how do I do this IDE install? Do I have upgrade the entire OS?
I'm on 20.2 LMC

user@CINNAMON-GIRL:~$ flatpak --version
Flatpak 1.6.5

[AndyMH]

PASCAL is real blast-from-the-past! Never programmed in it, but
I can read it fine...

Was taught Algol60 at university, next was Coral66 then a bit of Ada. Bit of a give-away, defence background. Started with Pascal in the early 1980's used it ever since. I wrote foxclone in Pascal using lazarus:
https://foxclone.org/
Do use C++, prefer Pascal.

[GARRETT1]

I don't think I've actually installed the JDK yet. I've downloaded it; and I've Extracted it... Not sure yet what to click on to Install it...

UPDATE: Looks like I already have a version of JDK installed:
user@CINNAMON-GIRL:~$ java -version
openjdk version "11.0.11" 2021-04-20
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.11+9-Ubuntu-0ubuntu2.20.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.11+9-Ubuntu-0ubuntu2.20.04, mixed mode, sharing)

[dave0808]

UPDATE: Looks like I already have a version of JDK installed:
user@CINNAMON-GIRL:~$ java -version
openjdk version "11.0.11" 2021-04-20
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.11+9-Ubuntu-0ubuntu2.20.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.11+9-Ubuntu-0ubuntu2.20.04, mixed mode, sharing)

That's the JRE - Java Runtime Environment. It all gets confusing because the builder/creator is called OpenJDK, but not everything that they release is the Java Development Kit.

The simplest option is to run the command sudo apt-get install default-jdk - this will install the Java 11 JDK. It's enough for most people and would be enough to get you going, but isn't the latest-greatest.

I've not used Eclipse for a while now but within the Preferences dialog, it's possible to add multiple JDK locations so you can have per-project settings, if required.

Given the title of this topic, I'd suggest thinking about whether this is the direction you want to take. Java's very useful for creating cross-platform code (within certain limits) and it does have a UI framework. However any users would need the runtime in order to run your code, and outside of various developer IDEs and utilities, I can't think of many Linux apps written with it. That said, it's a better option than a local web application

[GARRETT1]

UPDATE: Looks like I already have a version of JDK installed:
user@CINNAMON-GIRL:~$ java -version
openjdk version "11.0.11" 2021-04-20
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.11+9-Ubuntu-0ubuntu2.20.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.11+9-Ubuntu-0ubuntu2.20.04, mixed mode, sharing)

That's the JRE - Java Runtime Environment. It all gets confusing because the builder/creator is called OpenJDK, but not everything that they release is the Java Development Kit.

The simplest option is to run the command sudo apt-get install default-jdk - this will install the Java 11 JDK. It's enough for most people and would be enough to get you going, but isn't the latest-greatest.

I've not used Eclipse for a while now but within the Preferences dialog, it's possible to add multiple JDK locations so you can have per-project settings, if required.

Given the title of this topic, I'd suggest thinking about whether this is the direction you want to take. Java's very useful for creating cross-platform code (within certain limits) and it does have a UI framework. However any users would need the runtime in order to run your code, and outside of various developer IDEs and utilities, I can't think of many Linux apps written with it. That said, it's a better option than a local web application

Thanks, good point too. I think I'll lean towards C/C++. I think those apps would be more 'stand-alone'. I've never liked the idea of having to have a run-time environment for my programs... Although, JDK is very widely used now and a lot of PC OS's include it by default... As far as 'web-based' apps, I'm not interested in developing those types... I've done a lot of that, over the years... And they have their place... But, I prefer a stand-alone application that folks can download from the repo... Haven't decided what I want to develop yet for my Linux project...

[deepakdeshp]

If you want to help develop Mint

https://linuxmint-developer-guide.readt ... en/latest/