[Python-3000] Add a standard GUI system

[Bill Janssen]

Terry Reedy writes:
> To me, your logic is backwards.  wxWidgets/wxPython are popular and have 
> perhaps the highest usage (not counting IDLE) by voluntary choice. 

Terry, "popular" isn't the goal of Python 3000.  Nor is "backwards
compatibility" -- Py3K is about breaking compatibility.  "Getting it
right" is the goal.  wxPython, PyGTK, PyQt, Tkinter, Jython/Swing --
all are fatally non-Pythonic due to an overly literal mapping of their
C++/C++/C++/Tcl/Java APIs into the Python API.  (Single inheritance
has a lot to answer for!)  If I'm going to deal with a Py3K, I want
the right kind of GUI, and PyGUI seems to have the best combination of
features for that.  I don't want to program in
Java-masquerading-as-Python, C++-masquerading-as-Python, or
Tcl-masquerading-as-Python.  Leave that to the poor Python 2.x folks.

But I think there's also an argument to be made for adopting a
relatively little-used toolkit, as long as it's technically adequate.
Adopting any toolkit into the standard library will be a big blow to
partisans of, and users of, all the other toolkits.  Seems only fair
to award "advantage" to as few as possible.

> So you want to artificially boost the 
> penetration of your minority favorite by putting it in the standard lib. 

I don't have a "favorite" here.  I don't use any of the common Python
toolkits, including PyGUI, because none of them are standard.  I write
GUI code in Swing (Java) and OpenGL (C++).  My analysis is purely
theoretical.

I'd be happy to support a better solution, if I knew of one.  Let's
discuss it.  Convince me (and everyone else).  I also considered
Fredrik Lundh's WCK.  My assessment is that PyGUI has the better
combination of technologies and APIs for "doing it right".

Bill
------------------------------------------
 Bill Janssen  <janssen at parc.com>     (650) 812-4763    FAX: (650) 812-4258
 PARC User Interface Research Area        http://www.parc.com/janssen/