Maemomm: Maemo for C++, with gtkmm

gtkmm is now available for the new Maemo 3.0 “Bora” version, as used on the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. It’s in the extras repository.

There are also gtkmm C++ bindings for the Maemo UI (hildon-libs and hildon-fm) widgets, covered in the online maemomm documentation. Nokia tasked Openismus with updating these bindings for the N800 and writing the documentation, which was done mostly by Johannes Schmid and Daniel Elstner in the last few weeks of 2006. Of course, no applications use maemomm just yet, though gtkmm is already used enthusiastically on other embedded devices, and the demand for gtkmm on Maemo has been strong, so let’s see what happens.

It’s a slightly cut-down version of gtkmm for embedded devices, but most programmers won’t notice much difference in the API. I’d welcome patches to reduce the code size and memory requirements even more. It’s gtkmm 2.6 for now, but it looks like Maemo will update to GTK+ 2.8 or 2.10 in the near future. For the “armel” architecture that runs on the device, the (stripped) gtkmm library is 1.4M, which is a (small part of the) small price to pay if you prefer C++.

4 thoughts on “Maemomm: Maemo for C++, with gtkmm

  1. Very good news. Gtkmm speeds up development a lot, compared to the bare gtk+ by providing a solid ground for more abstraction and modularization.
    And for that, we don’t need to use a “virtual machine” overhead.

    It is really good news to see our beloved platform (gtk+) empowered by such a good C++ binding in the embedded space. That will hopefully open new doors for cooler and safer applications, and hopefully attract a greater deal of the competent C++ programmers out there who have been reluctant to jump into the embedded gtk+ bandwagon untill now.

    Kudos to you guys !

  2. Dodji, cheers. People should use a virtual machine if they like that. One of the great things about GTK+ is that you can really use the programming language that you are most comfortable with, without having to get someone else’s religion. Yes, of course C++ is the one true religion, but not everybody knows that.

  3. Heh, of course people should use VMs if they like it. Different types of problems need different tools, in general. I have no problem with that.
    What bugs me is the way these solutions (VM and interpreters) are overhyped.
    But we should not make the world think that VMs and interpreters are the only way to do gtk+ development today. And gtkmm is great in that respect as well.

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