14 DAY TRIAL // Qt 5.3, a cross-platform application and UI framework with APIs for C++ programming, has been officially released and is now available for download.
The Digia developers have moved very fast, and shortly after the release of Qt 5.2, a new improved branch has been released, integrating numerous fixes and various changes. This is a piece of technology that gets embedded in a number of ways and in systems from all over the world, be they Linux, Android, iOS, or Windows.
Everything that is implemented in Qt eventually ends up in our devices, even though it takes a while for developers to actually make it happen. For example, right now Ubuntu developers are talking about adopting Qt 5.3 for their upcoming 14.10 build, which is scheduled for release in a few months’ time.
“Qt 5.2 has been a tremendous success, having been downloaded over 1 million times. With Qt 5.2, we delivered on our promise that Qt is a true cross-platform framework by adding Android and iOS support. Qt 5.3 is building on that foundation, and adding to it.”
“With Qt 5.1 and 5.2, we’ve received a lot of feedback from users. With Qt 5.3, we’ve used that feedback and put a lot of effort into polishing the product and enhancing the overall quality and user experience across all platforms,” said the developers in the official announcement.
Qt 5.3 integrates numerous features and it's difficult to even list them all. Support has been added for new platforms and Qt for Windows Runtime Beta has been introduced for the first time. This means that Windows Phone is now covered by this release, along with all the WinRT tablets (Windows Surface) and all the PCs that are running the Modern UI from the 8.1 update.
The latest versions of QNX Neutrino 6.6 and QNX 6.5 SP1 have also received support, a QWidget that allows users to embed Qt Quick contents into a QWidget-based application has been implemented, a new professional building tool available under the Qt Enterprise version, called Qt Quick Compiler, has been added, the load times of QML user interfaces has been improved, the Qt WebSockets API that provides a C++ and QML API for the WebSocket protocol has been added, and more.
Last but not least, a new monthly subscription plan has been put in place and it is now possible to buy Qt Enterprise for the mobile operating systems through the regular webshop.
A complete list of changes and fixes can be found in the official announcement. You can download Qt 5.3 right now from Softpedia.