• KDE from a developer's viewpoint
• Do you need this book?
• The KDE philosophy and community
• How to get help
• First steps
• Choosing a project
• The Qt Framework
• Using Git for KDE Development
• Choosing an IDE
• KDE APIs
• Documentation
• KDE development build environment
• Prerequisites
• Other ways to build the KDE SC
• Scripted KDE builds (kdesrc-build)
• Troubleshooting your KDE build
• Advanced Topics
• Reading backtraces
• Appendices
• Useful tools
• Frequently asked questions
• General glossary and KDE jargon
• Useful links
• About this book
• Notes

Do you need this book?

You should read this book if you want to do any development for KDE. We're using the term development very broadly to cover anything that can lead to a change in source code. This includes:

• Submitting a bug fix
• Writing a new application powered by KDE technology
• Contributing to an existing project
• Adding functionality to KDE development libraries

In this book we'll give you the basics you need to be a productive developer. We'll explain the tools you should install, show you how to read the documentation (and write your own, once you've created new functionality!) and how to get help in other ways. We'll introduce you to the KDE community, which is key to understanding KDE because we are a free, open source project.

Regular users of the software do NOT need this book! However, they might find it interesting to help understand how the complex and richly featured software they use has come into being.