This short tutorial is intended as a simple introduction to writing GTK+ applications in C and C++, using the current 2.0/2.2 version of libgtk. It also covers the use of the Glade user interface designer for rapid application development (RAD).

This series of articles aims to introduce the Objective-C programming language to readers of C Vu, who are users of C and C++. I will try to show how the language manages to add object-oriented facilities to the low-level features of C in a way that is radically different from that of C++.

In this article I will focus on the basic features of the language, future articles will cover more advanced topics such as inheritance, interfaces and attributes. After reading this series of articles you will have a basis for determining if C# is for you.

Welcome to the first installment in a series of articles exploring GUI programming with the Qt C++ toolkit.

Another year, another ACCU conference. And this year's conference, like its predecessors, was an excellent event. In this write-up a number of attendees will tantalise you with brief reports of what went on. Let it serve as a memory-jog and piece of nostalgia for those who attended, and as an encouragement to come next year.

In my previous article we learnt the important optimisation process, the steps that ensure any optimisation really is worthwhile. Being eager code monkeys, I can see that you're all desperate for practical code optimisation techniques.

So here they are - in this final part we'll investigate specific code techniques for optimisation. Just don't tell anyone that I showed you. To redress the theological balance, we'll also see how to avoid optimisation in the first place.

Rather than talk about programming or programming issues, the work of WG21 etc, I've decided to talk about something far closer to my heart; the state of computer programming courses in education at all levels.

Recently, I've been thinking hard about what makes code maintainable, and how to write code to be maintainable. This interest has partly been driven by the mentoring of those starting out in C++ that I've been doing, both through the ACCU mentored developers program, and for work.

The principles I've identified have not really been hidden; since they've been widely documented for years, and they're actually things that most good developers do as a matter of course. However, as with many things, you don't necessarily realize their benefits until you rediscover them yourself.

Please note that participation in this competition is open to all members. The title reflects the fact that the code used is normally provided by a student as part of their course work.

This item is part of the Dialogue section of C Vu, which is intended to designate it as an item where reader interaction is particularly important. Readers' comments and criticisms of published entries are always welcome.

In the first part of this series, we looked at what it means to optimise code, and saw the cases for and against optimisation. In this article, we'll look at the process of optimisation. We'll see the correct, methodical approach that will lead to solid, worthwhile code optimisations.

This is the second of a two part article describing an experiment carried out during the 2003 ACCU conference. The first part was published in a previous issue of C Vu (15.6, December 2003) and discussed the background to the experiment and some of the applicable characteristics of the subjects taking part; this one, the second, discusses the results of the experiment.

Look at the following code and decide what is wrong with it. When you have done so, decide what it has to do with the previous section in particular and this section of C Vu in general - well actually the whole of your life.