As some of you might know (see earlier post) we are porting Qt for S60 3.1 and later versions, and we’ve just finished our next pre-release called “Temple”. The release in short contains three more Qt modules and improvements to the ones already ported.

Go here to get the package!

In detail this is what you get:

New ported modules are:

• QtScript: Provides classes for making Qt applications scriptable
• QtSvg: Provides classes for displaying SVG images
• QtXml: C++ implementations of SAX and DOM

Changes to existing modules are:

• QtCore
• added QSharedMemory support
• added QSystemSemaphore support
• QtGui
• added mouse move/drag events support
• modifed QFileDialog to fit small screens
• Improved font support
• QtNetwork
• added SSL support
• qmake
• fixed bld.inf/mmp generation when not under Qt source tree
• EPOCROOT environment variable is no longer required
• Added no_icon CONFIG keyword to suppress icon generation
• Generated pkg files no longer include Qt libraries directly
• Added support for generic mmp rules via the MMP_RULES variable
• Added support for STDEXE, STDDLL and STDLIB target types
• Subdirs template no longer requires using -r switch with qmake
• SYSTEMINCLUDE statements are no longer sorted in mmp files

Getting help and providing feedback

Now, pre-releases are not supported, but we still want your feedback. We have set up a special mailing list for feedback on the S60 port:

qts60-feedback@trolltech.com

This list is read by the developers working on the port, so please join if you want to provide technical feedback, bug reports or suggestions to us directly. In order to join the mailing list send a mail to:

qts60-feedback-request@trolltech.com

There is also a Nokia Forum available here.

Whats next?

The next pre-release called “Garden” (which have been developed in parallel with “Temple”) is when things really start to get interesting. Some of the things we hope to achieve there are:

• Deep integration with S60 (menus, dialogs, input methods)
• S60 look and feel (style etc.)
• Proper font implementation
• Move to Qt 4.5

We’ll keep you posted. See you on the flip side

April this year we started a new project here in Oslo called “Qt for S60″ and I’ve been wanting to blog about it ever since. Now I finally can! Basically we’re porting Qt to yet another platform: S60, which roughly gives us around 80 million new devices Qt can run on. Our vision of Qt Everywhere is becoming more and more of a reality. And it feels good.

Let’s get to the important stuff. Click here to:

• download the pre-release packages
• see the video of Qt running on 3 different phones
• see the webcast to learn how to get Qt running on your phone
• download our fluidlauncher demo to try it out on your phone

About the tech-preview and the demos

The Qt for S60 pre-release packages comes in two license flavours, either download the opensource (GPL2 or GPL3) package or the preview-commercial package. Content wise there is no real difference between them. However, the opensource package contains pre-compiled binaries which the preview commercial package does not. The reason for this is that the compiler (GCCE) opensource developers have access too, at the moment, cannot build Qt libraries. RVCT however can - but you most likely don’t have access to that one as it’s not freely available. So basically, for the opensource package you’ll be building Qt applications with GCCE, but linking with RVCT built Qt libraries we provide for you. For the preview-commercial package we assume you’ve got access to RVCT, and we let you do all the stuff yourself. I’m sure we’ll sort out the GCCE issue for the next tech-preview.

The Qt modules available in this package are:

• QtCore - all the non-Gui classes
• QtGui - painting and widgets
• QtNetwork - TCP, HTTP and all that
• QtTest - unit testing

We support S60 3.1 and higher, even the 5.0 stuff that was just released Btw. if you try to install the demo above on your phone, and you’ve got a 3.1 device, you have to install Pips/Open C as well for it to work. We’ve got a package conveniently here for you.

Feedback

Our policy here in Qt Software is: release often, release early. We want feedback from developers trying out our software. Now keep in mind, this first relase is a technology preview. It is not supported, it is not complete, it is not production quality - basically it’s for you to play with. We have set up a special mailinglist for feedback on the S60 port. The address of the mailinglist is:

qts60-feedback@trolltech.com

please join if you want to provide technical feedback, bug reports, suggestions or comments. In order to join the mailing list send a mail to:

qts60-feedback-request@trolltech.com

with the subject set to: subscribe. In order to leave the list send a mail with the subject set to: unsubscribe. This will be an open list so make sure not to share sensitive information.

Let the hacking begin

We’re at the Symbian Smartphone show in London this week answering questions and showing of Qt on some phones. Drop by if you’re in the area But even more important, start making cool and crazy apps for your phones! I’m sure a lot of you already have an S60 bouncing around in your pockets, and it’s just waiting to be played with.

We also just announced the Pimp my widgets! contest, why not do a double-combo and try out Qt for S60 pimpin style

Anyways, (sorry for the long blog) here is a picture of Qt running on all the S60 devices I got my hands on - just showing you I’m not lying.

Qt on lots of S60 devices - can you name them all?

The cross-platform story for Qt becomes more and more true. Now we’re even going to be on Maemo it seems (kde people talk: here, osnews flamewar: here). However that was not really what I was going to talk about.

I have a little video for you here basically showing the Qt Everywhere demo running on both Windows Mobile and Embedded Linux side by side. We used the latest fancypants from HTC (Windows Mobile 6.0) and ran the Qt demos side by side to a Neo (Linux). Click the image below to check it out (opens new page, click play again):

The demo is basically just a small set of some of the Qt demos and examples that we launch and interact with in a more gesture inspired way. I love flicking those screengrabs around btw Skip ahead to 02:40 if you only want to see it running on the Neo…. Skip to 04:48 if you want to see the Neo die

One thing to notice here is that this demo-set was originally developed and compiled for Embedded Linux. All that was needed to have it running out of the box for Windows CE/Mobile was to add a few deployment rules to the .pro file for the demo. Now - it goes without saying that these demos run out of the box on our desktop platforms too.

Btw. stay tuned for the Open Source Development awards. We have a winner - and we’ve got prizes!

We use a lot of tools and applications when we develop Qt and Qtopia. Strangely enough, it turns out a lot of these tools are open source We’ve always been wanting to give something back to the talented developers of these tools, be it money or just praise. These tools make our working day better, more efficient and sometimes even FUN!

So, the engineers here are at Trolltech decided it’s time to have an annual award where we vote and select the best open source development tool available out there. In other words: The Trolltech Open source Development Award.

So here are the finalists for the 2008 awards. They’ve all been nominated by at least one Troll, so there is at least one person out there that loves your tool

The price will include money AND a signed T-shirt. But regardless who wins we’d like to thank the developers of the tools below: You make our day a little bit better. THANK YOU!

	Coding requires music. Music requires a player. This is the one.
	It’s everywhere. So are we. It’s a match made in well, maybe not heaven but pretty close?
	All the other revision control systems are easier to use - but this one is more powerful.
	When we don’t code we chat. But don’t tell management. (They use Mirc)
	Good looks and doesn’t nag you for every single thing.
	Editing for oldtimers. Some people just can’t move on
	Feature packed editing for Windows developers.
	Higher quality for the same bit rate. And you don’t have to pay royalties.
	Not everybody uses MySQL
	A must have if you work on several systems at the same time. Take your KVM switch outside, and put it out of it’s misery. We mean it.
	You can spend two days debugging, or you can just run Valgrind.
	Emacs sucks!
	Possibly the most beautiful way of comparing diffs on Windows.
	Why drive a Golf when you can drive a Ferrari ;D

The Trolls have already started voting, and there are two very strong candidates who are competing for the first place. Now all votes are not in yet, so keep your fingers crossed Btw. I’ve masked using patented superfancy GIMP filters, so don’t bother guessing which two it is

Once the voting is complete we’ll publish the winner here of course

So the Qt 4.4.0 beta is finally out, and on that occation we’re also launching the port of Qt for Windows CE. The chosen launch location is Embedded World 2008 down in beautiful Nürnberg (Germany).

Download Qt for Windows CE from here:

• Commercial version
• Open source version

We´ve had lots of people over to our booth on Embedded World and there’s never been a quiet moment. People are generally impressed with the cross-platform nature of Qt, and especially that it also extends to embedded devices. As you probably know Qt is supported on Windows, Linux/Unix and Max OSX as well as embedded Linux, and now also Windows CE (including Windows Mobile).

I’d like to congratulate the creators of Qt for Windows CE with a job (almost finished now) well done:

• Thomas Hartmann
• Jörg Bornemann
• Maurice Kalinowski
• Marius Storm-Olsen (Qt3 port)

…and say that it’s a pleasure to present the fruits of our labors after over a year of focused development (I’m sure Maurice agrees). Cheers guys, and I’ll see you at the cabin trip this weekend.

So here is a small video of “live” footage from Embedded World today:

If you’re stopping by Embedded World tomorrow, I’m having a talk at 14:40 in hall 11. I’ll go through an introduction on using Qt for Windows CE.

So, thanks for now and I hope you enjoy the video AND the release. Don’t be shy. If you’ve got any feedback or problems, just subscribe to the preview list by sending a mail with subject: subscribe to qtce-preview-feedback-subscribe@trolltech.com and start asking questions.

I have a video of Qt runnin on an HTC Touch compared to Qt running on an OpenMoko NEO1973. I’ll put it up next week I promise!

Here are three good things for you while you’re all waiting for Christmas to kick in

1. We’ve released the second technology preview for Qt/WinCE, and
2. We’ve added support for Windows CE projects in our Visual Studio Integration for 2005
3. There are videos from Developer Days 2007 uploaded!

Second technology preview of Qt/WinCE

Since the last technology preview we’ve been working on moving Qt/WinCE from using Qt 4.3 to Qt 4.4. We’re basically done with that and thought this would be a good time for another package. We haven’t made a super friendly installer this time (no worries they will be back for later releases) but it’s still just the regular three-step:

1. Configure the package
2. Set your paths to your SDK
3. Build

Here is basically what’s new in the second preview called “Siesta”:

• Upgraded to Qt 4.4
• All examples and demos now compile and run for Windows CE
• The OpenGL module now supports OpenGL ES on Windows CE
• Added example for OpenGL ES
• Added support for QtConcurrent and QtXmlPatterns
• Visual Studio integration now supports Qt/WinCE
• Several improvements and bugfixes

Now if you want your dirty little hands on the package simply join the preview mailinglist for Qt/WinCE by sending a mail to:
qtce-preview-feedback-request@trolltech.com with the subject: subscribe

Of course, If you’re already on the list you already got a mail on where to get it.

Visual Studio Integration for 2005

One of the things I mentioned above, is that our Qt Visual Studio integration now also support creating Qt applications for Windows CE. This screenshot (click for a larger image) shows a Qt application designed in Qt Designer embedded in Visual Studio 2005 and then compiled and run on a Windows Mobile 5.0 emulator. If you want to try out the integration as well, just join the mailinglist as I said above - and the download info is provided to you.

Developer Days 2007 videos

Andreas tries to summarize his speech explaining the design and use of the Qt Network classes Interesting stuff here, for example towards the end he explains how easy it is to create secure connections with SSL in Qt.	A complete talk here from Girish (I guess he didn’t get the memo we were doing summaries ;D). Girish talks about how you develop using Qt with hints and tips specifically towards developing on the Windows platforms. Interested in how to make your application Vista certified? Want to hear about deploying Qt applications?	Kent has a talk here “loosely based” on his Developer Days talk about Qt Script. Puppies and kittens included!
Thierry here describes and shows the usage of the new Multimedia system coming in Qt 4.4.0. Some pretty sweet coding examples in the end showing how easy playback of audio or video, or both is.	Volker talks about how to make Qt play well with others, and how to make others play well with Qt Ever wondered if your Qt include statements should come before or after 3rd party ones?

In 1994 Eirik C. Eng and Haavard Nord established an elite company for the top one percent of the worlds coders. Its purpose was to create the greatest toolkit ever built. To ensure that the handful of coders recruited were the best the world had to offer - they initiated a hard and strenuous recruiting process. The process, if successful, would only allow the keepers of the lost art of software development to slip through the gates. It succeeded. Today, the World knows the company as Trolltech. The coders just call it: TOP CODE!

Actually, thats all just bulls#¤t. Except the thing about “1994″, and “greatest toolkit”, oh and “best the world had to offer” - yeah and the “lost art of software development” is kinda correct as well. Come to think of it - everything is true except the “TOP CODE” name.

As one of the guys doing a fair amount of recruiting for the development department in Trolltech I’ve come to see the typical pitfalls that our candidates fall into. And I was thinking, as a service to all of you thinking of applying, to give you some pointers of where you may go wrong too. BTW if I sound like an arrogant prick who thinks he is hot coder-shit, it’s because I work together with a bunch of people I KNOW are hot coder-shits, and therefore their hotness rubs off on me.

Candidate pitfall #1

The first typical mistake is that the candidate is not comfortable enough with his programming language. For the sake of argument let’s say we’re talking C++ here. It doesn’t take us long to figure out this point. We’ll ask some innocent questions about const member functions or some simple pointer juggling and the candidate will typically start to have problems. Why is this? Well - programming is a craft, and only through actually programming will you improve this craft. Normally if you’re right out of university (Norwegian ones anyways) you will not have had enough practice actually programming. Note: It’s perfectly OK if you don’t know C++ - what we’re looking for is someone with a thorough understanding of at least one programming language.

Candidate pitfall #2

The other typical mistake, is that the candidate is not comfortable around data types and algorithms. We’ll ask the candidate to compare a list and a vector, the pros and cons. We’ll ask whats the depth of a balanced binary tree, whats the run-time of bubble-sort. Then watch him fall to pieces This is something you actually do learn at the university though - so no excuses here

Candidate pitfall #3

The last typical mistake is that the candidate lacks experience doing software design. The way we typically design classes and modules in Qt is using two people and a white board. Simple as that. During our recruitment process we let the candidates do the same - and observe them. A lot of the time a candidate might avoid pitfall #1 and #2, but then #3 comes along and they dive into it. Why so? I think it’s a bit of the same here as #1. Even with a university degree in computer science you might still never have done any object oriented design, and even less object oriented design in a team.

When I look at myself and how I avoided #1 and #3 I see that I got these skills outside my university courses:

• I had part-time and full-time software jobs.
• I had friends doing coding outside of class.

So, to summarize:

1. Don’t be afraid to apply!
2. Know your programming language.
3. Know your data types and algorithms.
4. Know how to design in a team.

BTW for any recent candidates: This is NOT about you. I just woke and felt inspired to write about recruitment.

So - if you think you’ve got it, or just want a free trip to Oslo (we pay for it), don’t hesitate: apply here!

I love this application.

Ariya Hidayat has made a really neat Qt application/widget that does the “cover flow” thing we all know and love(?) from iTunes. Paul showed me the video of it running on the nice Chumby device (courtesy of Jesper) . And I thought: How would that run on my HTC Touch?, this nice little Windows Mobile phone I’ve got.

I just had to try.

And it’s freaking awesome. Have a look:

It’s really smooth and responsive. Specs for the phone:

• 200 MHz
• 240×320
• Windows Mobile 6.0

The video quality is not the best - but you get the idea.

If you want to check out the code go here.
If you want to check out the technology preview of Qt/WinCE then go here.

So the second and final installment of DevDays2007, namely DevDays 2007 II: Münich - Revenge of the Ratskeller is over. We all had a great time, and it was packed with over 500 attendees which made all of TT very happy. Here you see some of them during a lunch break:

I’m happy with all my talks (Release management, Undo/Redo and Qt/WinCE) and would like to thank you all for listening and asking questions and providing suggestions. I’ll write it all down here and let the rest of the guys in dev know about what you had to say.

As promised, I said OpenGL support was just around the corner, and as you can see from Thomas Hs blog, we already have a video of it running! Great job there.

I would like to congratulate the winners of the Nerds vs Geek competition, and I have to say I really envy the 3rd place runner for his prize. It was a USB tape-dispenser. I mean, how cool is that!

After two days of presentations and workshops, we went out to party. Only the trolls. Which is a good thing, because any impression you had of us as professional and sensible people would surely be destroyed after 10 minutes of drinking with us. I’ll just give some kewords:

• Break-dancing
• Beer-coaster throwing
• Table-lifting
• Stripping-on-table-while-table-being-lifted-almost-falling-while-giggling
• Schnaps-shots
• Headache
• Missing-the-bus

For the record, most of those keywords do not necessarily describe my behavior that night.

I’ll have you know though, that being a presenter is very fun and I’d do it again. But, and here is the but. At the end of the week, you’re gonna look like this:

DevDays 2007 in Redwood City is just over and I think I can say with confidence: it was a great success.

We released the Qt/WinCE Technology Preview among other things, and the talks, keynotes and BOFs all got good feedback from the conference participants. There were around 180-200 participants in total and they were such a nice crowd we felt really welcome.

As some of you might have noticed we talked about a “Steak house” a lot, and we weren’t lying. There really was one. About half an hour after arrival at the hotel Brad, being from Texas, felt a craving for a juicy steak, so we promptly went to the local steak house: Izzy’s Steaks and Chops. Man was it good!

I had a FILET MIGNON MEDALLIONS AU POIVRE (with cracked pepper, cream & brandy) and it was delicious.

Of other notable things that happened was:

We sang karaoke in local suburbia-pub (Abba, A-Ha etc.) while there was a gang fight in the back of the place.

Continued to an after party in two of the participants hotel room, or as we Norwegians call it: Nachspiel, until security arrived. Following that up with beer outside the hotel in pitch black, where someone comes up with the brilliant idea of going swimming in the local lake. Great times, and thanks for all the beer guys!

Haavard also turned 40, and got a cool looking cake - allthough I never had time to taste it

And to the guys who participated in the Undo/Redo talk, there is a way to invalidate the undo stack if it for some reason gets corrupt, it’s called clear. Read the docs here

Now there is a week of real work back here in Oslo, until we fly down to DevDays 2007 Münich! I’m really looking forward to that. I know Adam is looking forward to his Gebackene Schweinshaxe. I’m on the other hand looking forward to a good Weisswurst for breakfast.