Tkinter vs wxPython: your opinions?

[Vadim Zeitlin]

[disclaimer: my other email address is vadim at wxwindows.org so I'm not
 really impartial]

On 25 Jan 2001 19:41:19 GMT, Neil Cerutti <cerutti at together.net> wrote:
>The current documentation for Tkinter is much better than what is
>available for wxPython. 

 This is very strange. Where is good documentation for Tkinter to be found?
When I had tried to learn using it (this was 5 years ago, true) I couldn't
find any documentation at all. wxWindows documentation is probably what
has personally attracted me so much to it.

>Tkinter's 'pack' layout manager is super easy to use, and with
>some practice and the excellent documentation, powerful. wxPython
>seems to have a couple of layout managers, but how they should be
>used is a mystery.

 Well, this *is* explained in the docs. Besides, the sizers are mostly
what you'd expect them to be (if you have experience with other GUI
frameworks using such things). I don't even think they are that far from
Tkinter layout manager although I don't know it well enough to be sure.

>I've been forced to place everything pixel by pixel so far.

 No offense intended, but this is the worst possible way to do it.

>Binding widgets to callbacks in Tkinter is much easier for me to
>understand than the wxPython EVT_ macros.

 This depends on your background, I guess.

>Tkinter's events seem
>much easier to bind, since I don't have to worry about which
>widget generates what event -- they all seem to generate everything
>I've wanted to bind.

 It is possible to handle events from several widgets or different events from
the same widget in the same event handler in wxPython, so I'm not sure how
much different can it be.

>The objects in wxPython are more full-featured (I guess--for some
>definition of full featured), but aren't as easily configurable
>as the Tkinter ones.

 There is a trade off between having your own, completely customizable
(because you can tweak them in any way you like) widgets and using the
standard ones. wxWindows chooses the 2nd i.e. it favours the native look and
feel.

>wxPython's documentation seems to be in the state Tkinter's was
>back when all there was was the _Tkinter life preserver_.

 I still wonder what documentation are you speaking of? Do you mean wxWindows
documentation (because this is what you should use, it has special python
notes in it but globally it's the same set of docs) or something else?

 Also, I'd advise you to ask the various technical questions you had (handling
ESC, popup menus, ...) on wxPython mailing list. I'm not sure they will be
answered, but it's certainly worth a try.

>Better advice is probably to try them both for some small sample
>app, like I have, and make up your own mind. Perhaps wxPython
>makes perfect sense if you are a good C++ programmer.

 On my own example it certainly does :-)

 Regards,
VZ

-- 
GCS/GM d? H+ s++:-- p2 au--- a- w+ v C+++ UBLS+++ P- L++ N++ E--- W++++ M? V--
-po+ R++ G`` !tv b+++ D--- e++++ u++ h--- f+ r++ n- y?