About Elgrint

Elgrint (Easily-learned graphic interface toolkit) is a software library for developing professional native cross-platform GUI apps in the C++ language, such as games, personal utilities, and more. Elgrint is designed to uphold the "write once, compile anywhere" paradigm.

To use Elgrint, first you need to learn its interface by going over the Developer Guide.

After going over the guide, you can use the Reference for further reading while writing your own code.

The simplest way of compiling your code is via the Cloud Compilation Service, but you can also download and install Elgrint locally using the instructions in the Developer Guide. Both options are free, but downloading Elgrint requires registration (which is also free). Registration is recommended even if you are using the Cloud Compilation Service.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: What is a GUI toolkit?

Answer: GUI toolkits, also called "application frameworks" or "widget libraries", are software packages that define an application programming interface (API) which contains various functions and modules that may be needed to create apps. Most toolkits are written in object-oriented languages, such as C++, C#, Java, or Objective-C. Like some other popular toolkits, Elgrint is written in C++, and uses the standard message-driven GUI model. The Developer Guide and the Reference describe the Elgrint API.

Question: Why Elgrint?

Answer: Elgrint is specifically designed to reduce the development pains and costs, to serve the developer first, rather than concentrating only on the end user of the resulting apps:

• Elgrint API is exceptionally compact and efficient - up to an order of magnitude smaller than some other APIs, while being practically just as powerful, and also very fast, elegant, and easy to memorize. A detailed explanation can be found in the Elgrint advantages article
• No installation required - you can develop apps with Elgrint directly in the browser via the Cloud Compilation Service. And even if you want to download Elgrint and use it locally, the installation is relatively quick and simple
• The Miranor Store contains source code of widgets and even complete apps, which you can use in your development (subject to the Developer License Agreement), thereby saving you a lot of work. New code is being added to the Store on the regular basis

Question: Why C++?

Answer: C++ is sometimes considered an outdated programming language. Indeed it is one of the oldest object-oriented programming languages. It is also somewhat more complicated and arguably less safe compared to some other OOP languages. However, it is still very popular, highly portable, and is a language of choice for most large-scale projects. With so much code written in C++ over the decades, and so many programmers trained in it, it is unlikely to fall into obscurity any time soon. C++ is also very time-efficient and power-efficient, capable of creating applications with top performance in terms of time, space, and battery power - something not easily attained with Java or C#. Moreover, in September 2011 a new C++ standard was published, which is supposed to rejuvenate the language. According to the experts, the revised C++ "feels like a whole new language". Another update, known as C++14 is expected to be released soon. In any case, the fact is that C++ is now the only language natively supported by all major operating systems: Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, and more. In light of all this, the popularity of C++ should last for many years to come, so it makes sense to keep using it, even if some people would have liked to see it gone.

Question: Is Elgrint free?

Answer: Elgrint is currently in beta. The beta version is free to download and use in the cloud. Moreover, we intend to allow the developers to MAKE MONEY from using Elgrint, by submitting the developed code to our Store to be sold to other developers. Stay tuned.

Question: Is Elgrint an open-source/free library?

Answer: Mostly, yes. The majority of the Elgrint's source code will be available for download at the Store, as soon as it passes a testing phase and is supplied with adequate internal commenting. That being said, Elgrint is NOT released under GPL or any similar license.

Question: What operating systems does Elgrint support?

Answer: Elgrint has been successfully tested on the MS-Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1. The support for other operating systems, including Google Android, Apple iOS, Windows Store, Linux, and more is coming. Check our website regularly, or subscribe to our updates (via Account Settings) to be notified on this subject.