What libraries are needed for graphics like vim or nano?

Question

What library is used to make a static terminal window like vim, nano, irssi or aptitude as opposed to a scrolling terminal?

I'm using C, but I'd be interested in libraries for other languages (for example, a C++ specific library).

Answer 1

I believe the library you are looking for is Curses (or NCurses). There is also PDCurses for cross-platform (includind Win32) development.

I also remember the days of Conio on DOS based systems.

Answer 2

Curses like library are usually used for that. pdcurses for windows, most *nixes come with a native version, or e.g. ncurses

Answer 3

That would be ncurses.

Answer 4

You can also use the termcap library (curses provides this) to lookup the terminal control strings for the terminal you're connected to, and send them yourself to implement whatever you like. Or, if you don't mind requiring a modern terminal that supports at least a common subset of the ANSI/ECMA standard, you can simply hard-code the standard terminal escapes.