Translations by Konstantinos Togias

ubuntu-doc@lists.ubuntu.com (Ubuntu Documentation Project)

Programming

2006-09-07

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Credits and License

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu documentation team (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam). For a list of contributors, see the <ulink url="../../../common/C/contributors.xml">contributors page</ulink>

This document is made available under the Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.5 License (CC-BY-SA).

You are free to modify, extend, and improve the Ubuntu documentation source code under the terms of this license. All derivative works must be released under this license.

This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AS DESCRIBED IN THE DISCLAIMER.

A copy of the license is available here: <ulink url="/usr/share/ubuntu-docs/common/C/ccbysa.xml">Creative Commons ShareAlike License</ulink>.

2004, 2005, 2006

The Ubuntu Documentation Project

This section contains some basic information for those wishing to use Ubuntu for writing and running their own programs.

Learning how to program

Ubuntu provides a number of resources intended to help you to learn how to develop and run programs yourself. Below is a list of some resources which you may find useful.

Dive Into Python

<citetitle>Dive Into Python</citetitle> is a book for learning how to program in Python, aimed at programmers with some previous experience.

Read <placeholder-1/>

PyGTK Tutorial

PyGTK Tutorial is a tutorial on developing with the graphical toolkit often used for developing Ubuntu applications. It assumes that you have knowledge of Python but not necessarily GTK.

Install the <application>python-gtk2-tutorial</application> package (see <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink>). You will need to use <application>Synaptic Package Manager</application> to install this package.

To access the documentation, visit <ulink url="file:///usr/share/doc/python-gtk2-tutorial/html/index.html">python-gtk-tutorial</ulink>.

Devhelp

<application>Devhelp</application> is an application to read and search all of the documentation that you install.

Install the <application>devhelp</application> package (see <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink>).

Choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu><guisubmenu>Programming</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Devhelp</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

C and C++

Compiling C and C++ programs requires some packages that are not installed by default.

Install the <application>build-essential</application> package (see <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink>).

There are many tools available for C and C++ developers. Those wishing to develop graphical applications will find that choosing a graphical toolkit/platform will make development more convenient. The two most popular development platforms for Ubuntu are <quote>GTK/GNOME</quote> and <quote>Qt/KDE</quote>, each of which has its own set of tools and documentation.

Anjuta IDE for GNOME

<application>Anjuta</application> is an IDE for developing applications in C and C++ for the <quote>GNOME</quote> platform.

Install the <application>anjuta</application> package from the <quote>Universe</quote> repository (see <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink>).

Press <keycombo><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>F2</keycap></keycombo>, type <quote>anjuta</quote> and press <guibutton>Run</guibutton> to start using <application>Anjuta</application>.

KDevelop IDE for KDE

<application>KDevelop</application> is an IDE for developing applications in C and C++ for the <quote>KDE</quote> platform.

Install the <application>kdevelop</application> package from the <quote>Universe</quote> repository (see <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink>).

Press <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu><guisubmenu>Programming</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>KDevelop</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to start using <application>KDevelop</application>.

Java

Install <application>sun-java5-jdk</application> from the <quote>Multiverse</quote> repository (see <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink>). You will need to use <application>Synaptic Package Manager</application> to install these packages.

Read the Java license presented. You must accept it to continue.

To get your system to use Sun Java instead of the open-source (but less functional) GIJ that is installed by default, run: <screen>sudo update-alternatives --config java</screen> and choose the option that has <filename>j2re1.5-sun</filename> in it.

Java 1.6 is also available, and can be installed by following the above directions, swapping all instances of 1.5 to 1.6

Eclipse IDE for Java

The <application>Eclipse</application> platform provides a complete, extensible Java development environment.

Install the <application>eclipse</application> package from the <quote>Universe</quote> repository (see <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink>).

Press <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Applications</guimenuitem><guimenuitem>Programming</guimenuitem><guimenuitem>Eclipse IDE</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to start using <application>Eclipse</application>.

Other programming languages

There are many programming tools available in Ubuntu for many different programming languages. This section provides a short list of some of the more commonly-used languages.

Mono .NET development environment