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(gtk.info)Overview

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What is GTK?
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   GTK is a library for creating graphical user interfaces similar to
the Motif "look and feel". It is designed to be small and efficient, but
still flexible enough to allow the programmer freedom in the interfaces
created. GTK allows the programmer to use a variety of standard user
interface widgets (Note: Widgets) such as push, radio and check
buttons, menus, lists and frames. It also provides several "container"
widgets which can be used to control the layout of the user interface
elements.

   GTK provides some unique features. (At least, I know of no other
widget library which provides them). For example, a button does not
contain a label, it contains a child widget, which in most instances
will be a label. However, the child widget can also be a pixmap, image
or any combination possible the programmer desires. This flexibility is
adhered to throughout the library.

   To make life easier for you, GTK presents this flexibility in a
uniform framework.  Specifically, it implements its own support for
object oriented programming that is well adapted to the purposes of a
user interface toolkit and it aims at providing a reasonable sane and
disciplined programming interface.  This uniformity and discipline is
intended to make it easy and reliable to access GTK from languages other
than C.  Especially more dynamic languages like Perl, Python or Scheme
will find amble support, and in fact, bindings to these languages
already exist.