Similar to the Go-GTK library we explored in the previous chapter, qt by therecipe allows you to write cross-platform graphical applications with a single Go code base. It leverages Qt, a multi-platform application framework that's designed for rapid delivery of applications to desktop and embedded computing environments. Like GTK+, it's designed to draw widgets that are familiar to the end user but aren't reliant upon the operating system's provided toolkit. Additionally, Qt provides a different look for mobile and embedded devices where users expect a different style of presentation. All of this is controlled within the framework so the developer can concentrate on developing a single application.

In this chapter, we'll look at the details of therecipe/qt, the most widely adopted Qt binding for the Go language. We'll cover the following:

• The history and aims of the Qt framework
• How the API is designed and bridged into Go
• Creating an application using therecipe/qt library
• The theming capabilities of Qt applications

By the end of this chapter, you'll be familiar with the capabilities of the Qt framework and its support of many different platforms. Through the exploration of some example applications and our GoMail application, you'll learn how the Go bindings of therecipe provide access to these features for development in Go. You should also have an understanding of whether the Qt framework is a good fit for your next application.