wxPython Or Tkinter Advise PLEASEEEEEEEEE

[Hans Nowak]

>I know that this is a redundant question.
>I started off with Tkinter from
>Programming Python book ( explained in detail).
>I liked it.
>
>Then i stumbled across wxPython and the kind of qoutes/comments i found on
>the web site were so impressive.
>for eg :
>
>"Why the hell hasn't wxPython become the standard GUI for Python yet?"
>
>-- Eric S. Raymond
>
>Am so confused???
>the docs were OK. There does'nt seem to be a book on it either :-(
>Then can anyone answer the above question:
>"Why the hell hasn't wxPython become the standard GUI for Python yet?"
>:-)
>
>what s'd i be doing? I have to say here that i dont use python @ work but am
>learning out of my own interest. But w'd like to master atleast one GUI
>package.

This question has been asked and answered before, but here's my take on it.

Both GUIs have benefits and drawbacks. Tkinter ships with Python, so on most 
systems it's almost guaranteed to be there. There's also at least one book 
about it (not sure when Fredrik's book is coming out...). On the flip side, I 
found that it's often slower than wxPython, and lacks widgets/components that 
wxPython has (this is more of a personal issue, but I missed tables/grids like 
I am used to in Delphi, to name something). 
wxPython has (AFAIK) no books yet, but comes with an impressive demo program, 
that gets you started easily; there's also the wxWindows documentation 
(although this isn't always 100% applicable to wxPython; some methods are 
different, etc.).
An important drawback (I think) is that wxPython will always be out later than 
new Python versions. If 2.2 final comes out, some time will pass before a 
version of wxPython arrives that will support this. This is inevitable because 
development on the new wxPython version cannot really start until the official 
Python is out. However, this means that you cannot immediately upgrade to a 
new Python version without breaking your GUI code (unless you keep the older 
Python version around, I guess).

I am currently using wxPython for my GUI projects, for the reasons mentioned 
above. That is not to say I will never do anything in Tkinter in the future, 
but currently it has my favor.

HTH,

--Hans Nowak