Qt API Design Notes

The Nokia Qt library provides a cross-platform application and UI framework for C++. It is often used to create user interfaces for programs that must run on several different platforms, but it also includes a large array of lower-level functionality, such as classes to handle threads, database access, regular expressions, networks, and XML.

Several of the Qt developers have written on the topic of good API design for C++. For example, Matthias Ettrich wrote an article on designing Qt-style C++ APIs that covers many good issues such as characteristics of good APIs, the boolean parameter trap, and the art of naming. See:

• http://doc.trolltech.com/qq/qq13-apis.html
• http://qt.gitorious.org/qt/pages/ApiDesignPrinciples

Also, Jasmin Blanchette wrote a document called “The Little Manual of API Design” that provides a similar treatment but with a bit more detail and covers more material on the design process and design guidelines. See:

• http://www.scribd.com/doc/15729315/The-Little-Manual-of-API-Design