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For many years, graphical user interfaces (GUIs) have been the standard way for the average computer user to engage with a software product. They provide an intuitive user experience for potentially complex workflows within the familiar context of a desktop environment. Having evolved over more than 40 years, the traditional graphical application is being challenged by the ubiquity of web-based software and the emergence of mobile applications on modern smartphones and handheld computers. Despite these new trends, there are still many reasons why building a native graphical application for desktop (and laptop) computers could be the right strategy for your product.

In this introductory section, we will look at the history of the desktop GUI and how it has developed alongside technological innovation. We will discuss why, despite new alternative approaches, native graphical applications are still a great way to provide an intuitive user experience and a reliable software product. Building anything of quality takes effort, and software is no exception. We will explore the challenges that teams are likely to face when designing and building a native graphical application that aims to support multiple operating systems. Having reviewed the importance of the GUI and the challenges it can pose, we examine the Go programming language and demonstrate that its design fits very well with the creation of modern native graphical applications for multiple platforms.

The following chapters will be covered in this section:

Chapter 1, The Benefits of Native Graphical Applications
Chapter 2, Graphical User Interface Challenges
Chapter 3, Go to the Rescue!

Key benefits

Conceptualize and build state-of-art GUI applications with Golang (Go)

Tackle the complexity of varying GUI application sizes with a structured and scalable approach

Get hands-on experience of GUI development with Shiny, and labs/ui, Fyne, and Walk

Description

Go is often compared to C++ when it comes to low-level programming and implementations that require faster processing, such as Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). In fact, many claim that Go is superior to C++ in terms of its concurrency and ease of use. Most graphical application toolkits, though, are still written using C or C++, and so they don't enjoy the benefits of using a modern programming language such as Go. This guide to programming GUIs with Go 1.11 explores the various toolkits available, including UI, Walk, Shiny, and Fyne. The book compares the vision behind each project to help you pick the right approach for your project. Each framework is described in detail, outlining how you can build performant applications that users will love. To aid you further in creating applications using these emerging technologies, you'll be able to easily refer to code samples and screenshots featured in the book. In addition to toolkit-specific discussions, you'll cover more complex topics, such as how to structure growing graphical applications, and how cross-platform applications can integrate with each desktop operating system to create a seamless user experience. By delving into techniques and best practices for organizing and scaling Go-based graphical applications, you'll also glimpse Go's impressive concurrency system. In the concluding chapters, you'll discover how to distribute to the main desktop marketplaces and distribution channels. By the end of this book, you'll be a confident GUI developer who can use the Go language to boost the performance of your applications.

Who is this book for?

This book is designed for Go developers who are interested in building native graphical applications for desktop computers and beyond. Some knowledge of building applications using Go is useful, but not essential. Experience in developing GUIs is not required as the book explores the benefits and challenges they pose. This book will also be beneficial for GUI application developers who are interested in trying Go.

What you will learn

Understand the benefits and complexities of building native graphical applications

Gain insights into how Go makes cross-platform graphical application development simple

Build platform-native GUI applications using andlabs/ui

Develop graphical Windows applications using Walk

Create multiplatform GUI applications using Shiny, Nuklear, and Fyne

Use Go wrappers for GTK and Qt for GUI application development

Streamline your requirements to pick the correct toolkit strategy

What do you get with eBook?

Instant access to your Digital eBook purchase

Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats

Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want

AI Assistant (beta) to help accelerate your learning

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Stephen Houston Apr 04, 2019

This book is a fantastic resource that elegantly covers how Golang solves the challenges that come with GUI programming. The book begins by outlining what these challenges are including performance, concurrency, native applications, cross-platform development, and standardized and aesthetic look and feel/themes. Following that, the majority of the book is dedicated to explaining in depth how programmers can use Golang to answer these challenges. Through simple, easy-to-understand descriptions followed up by example code (including code from many different GUI toolkit options with Golang) - any programmer from a beginner to an expert can find merit in this book. Whether you read the book from start to finish or you use it as a dictionary/index to quickly find answers to whatever your current challenge may be, you will thoroughly enjoy having this resource.

Amazon Verified review

Hands-On GUI Application Development in Go: Build responsive, cross-platform, graphical applications with the Go programming language

What do you get with eBook?