GNOME 2 Developer's Guide

Reviewed by Major Keary

Acronyms and other names beginning with 'G' are ubiquitous in the Linux world and GNOME is one of them; it is an acronym for GNU Network Object Model
Environment. "The Gnome project began in 1997 as a way to bring free software to the computer desktop [and] today … is one of the most used desktops in the world. … Gnome is unique because, from the beginning, it had a strong focus on creating a development platform to provide services for applications: services that developers typically expect to find on their operating systems"

[Miguel de Icaza in foreword to The Official GNOME 2 Developer's
Guide]. Linux distributions come with one or more (or even all) of
three alternative desktop environments: GNOME, KDE (Kdesktop environment),
and fvwm2, of which GNOME seems to be the most popular.

The Developer's Guide has been written for programmers and
requires knowledge of C and an understanding of Unix
processes. In short, this is not a how-to manual for end users, but a
text for developers. The original version was written in German and has
been translated—exceptionally well—for this English edition.
The style
is tutorial, but the book will serve as an ongoing reference. It is an
'information-dense' text that is particularly well-written; extensive
use is made of of annotated examples.

The book covers the GLib standard data
structures;
Glade and libglade; GConf; GnomeVFS; and
a number of development tools. It is interesting to know that a portion
of sales proceeds will be donated to the Gnome Foundation.

Matthias Warkus:
The Official GNOME 2
Developer's Guide

ISBN 1-59327-030-5

Published by No Starch Press, 497 pp., RRP
$79.95 incl. GST