ehrlich@shire.cs.psu.edu (Dan Ehrlich) (11/09/88)
We are in the process of installing a lab of IBM RT/PCs which will all be running X11. I have very little experience with X11 and was hoping to find someone with a reading list. Can anyone provide me with a list of documentation, books, etcetra, that an X11 novice should be reading. I have printed out the Xlib and XToolKit C-Library Interface documentation, but they assume you already know what they are talking about. I am looking for introductory material with plenty of examples. So far I am aware of the two volume set from O'Reilly and Associates, and a forthcoming book from Prentice Hall. I will summarize back to the list any information I get. Thanks in advance. Dan Ehrlich <ehrlich@shire.cs.psu.edu> | Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are The Pennsylvania State University | my own, and should not be attributed Department of Computer Science | to anyone else, living or dead. University Park, PA 16802 | Dan Ehrlich <ehrlich@shire.cs.psu.edu> | Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are The Pennsylvania State University | my own, and should not be attributed Department of Computer Science | to anyone else, living or dead. University Park, PA 16802 |
klee@daisy.UUCP (Ken Lee) (11/10/88)
In article <4104@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu> (Dan Ehrlich) writes: > Can anyone provide me with a >list of documentation, books, etcetra, that an X11 novice should be >reading. I have printed out the Xlib and XToolKit C-Library Interface >documentation, but they assume you already know what they are talking >about. A few years ago, Springer-Verlag published a book called "The Methodology of Window Management". It was the proceedings of a workshop the discussed most of the important issues for window systems. This book, the Xlib and Athena Widgets manuals, and the example and client X source code, should be all that beginner X programmers should need. For X users, rather than programmers, get the man pages for your favorite window manager, terminal emulator, and applications. Ken Lee Daisy Systems Corp., Interactive Graphics Tools Dept. -- uucp: {ames!atari, ucbvax!sgi, pyramid, uunet}!daisy!klee arpanet: daisy!klee@sgi.com or daisy!klee@uunet.uu.net I'm not a tourist, I was born in California.
alan@jane.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Alan S. Mazer) (11/10/88)
In article <4104@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu>, ehrlich@shire.cs.psu.edu (Dan Ehrlich) writes: > Can anyone provide me with a > list of documentation, books, etcetra, that an X11 novice should be > reading. I have printed out the Xlib and XToolKit C-Library Interface > documentation, but they assume you already know what they are talking > about. I am looking for introductory material with plenty of > examples. So far I am aware of the two volume set from O'Reilly and > Associates, and a forthcoming book from Prentice Hall. I will > summarize back to the list any information I get. Thanks in advance. I was in this position not too long ago. My suggested approach is to read the following in order: The Rosenthal paper (so that you basically have an idea of what's happening) The Widgets manual The X Toolkit manual Xt Widgets/Toolkit source X books (O'Reilly, etc) It also helps (at least, this was my approach) to take a widget from the standard library and try a modification. I tried to take the Text widget and make a similar widget (a subclass of Text) for a project I'm working on here, and I was amazed that after doing what I thought would be a very simple modification, I had worked my way through almost all of the X Toolkit manual and it actually made sense :-). The O'Reilly books are great and I've got them, but it seems that most stuff can be done at the Toolkit level. -- Alan ..!{ames,cit-vax}!elroy!alan * "But, seriously, what can alan@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov go wrong?"
randy@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU (Randy Orrison) (11/11/88)
In article <11075@elroy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> alan@jane.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Alan S. Mazer) writes: |I was in this position not too long ago. My suggested approach is to read the |following in order: | | The Rosenthal paper (so that you basically have an idea of what's | happening) |... What / where is "The Rosenthal paper"? Is this what it's called, so I'll recognize it when I find it? If possible (and relevant) could someone offer to mail it to me? (Don't actually mail it, I'll reply by mail to the first offer so I don't get dozens of copies.) Thanks!! -randy -- Randy Orrison, Chemical Computer Thinking Battery -- randy@cctb.mn.org (aka randy@{ux.acss.umn.edu, umn-cs.uucp, umnacca.bitnet, halcdc.uucp}) "If dolphins are so smart, why did Flipper work for television?"
oj@apollo.COM (Ellis Oliver Jones) (11/15/88)
In article <4104@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu> ehrlich@shire.cs.psu.edu (Dan Ehrlich) writes: >... I am looking for introductory material with plenty of examples. >So far I am aware of ... a forthcoming book from Prentice Hall. The Prentice-Hall book is (finally) out. Title, Author: Introduction to the X Window System by Oliver Jones. Description and Contents: This book is written for the professional application developer who will use X, and for the student who wishes to learn about the motivations for and capabilities of the X Window System. It describes how to use Xlib, the "C" language interface to the X Window System. Numerous figures and code examples are provided, as well as an index. The book is 511 pages long, and is cross-referenced to the "official" Xlib documentation. 1. Introduction 2. Hello, World! 3. X Concepts 4. Windows 5. Graphics 6. Text 7. Color 8. Pixmaps, Bitmaps, and Images 9. The Mouse and Pointer 10. The Keyboard 11. Advanced Event Handling 12. Communicating Between Applications Appendix A. helloworld.c Appendix B. X Protocol Request Codes Appendix C. Latin-1 and Standard Keysysms Appendix D. Fonts Appendix E. Color Names Appendix F. Standard Cursor Shapes and Symbols Appendix G. Predefined Atoms Index Availability: The book was published on about November 4th with a 1989 copyright date, and is for sale in bookstores. As of last Thursday, Quantum Books in Cambridge had it, and Computer Literacy in San Jose was expecting it soon. ISBN 0-13-499997-5 If you prefer, you may order directly from the publisher. To order fewer than twenty copies, call 201-767-5937. Please call 201-767-2498 to order twenty or more copies. Thanks to the many xpert people who asked good questions, and thanks to RWS and his colleagues for all their efforts. ------- Oliver Jones (speaking for myself, not necessarily for Apollo Computer, Inc.) (non-disclaimer...I'm the author)