GLib

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What Does GLib Mean?

GLib is a general-purpose software utility library that provides data types, macros, type conversions, utility functions and other non-graphical functions. GLib is the foundation of the Gimp Toolkit (GTK+) platform.

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Techopedia Explains GLib

GLib provides advanced data structures, including balanced binary trees, hash tables, N-ary trees, memory chunks, single and double linked lists and dynamic strings and string utilities. Cache, which provides memory management, is also included.

GLib implements numerous functions, including thread programming and related facilities (such as mutexes, secure memory pools, message passing and timing) and message passing facilities, like input/output (I/O) channels.

As a library, GLib offers features that may be shared by other programs. Data types provided by GLib may be used by a variety of programming languages with GTK+ wrapping.

GLib runs on Unix-like platforms, Windows, OS/2 and BeOS. Additionally, GLib has cross-platform capabilities, which allow written GLib applications to run on any of these platforms, thus minimizing rewrites.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.