Looking for a basic GUI tutorial

[Russ Schmidt]

Help!

I have been following the various GUI threads with some interest, and am 
hoping that you can point me to an appropriate reference source (book, web 
site, whatever). I have been trying to pick up Python in my spare time, and 
while I can program simple stuff, I have concluded that I just have no clue 
as to what truly interactive (GUI) programming is all about.

As background, I am a Fortran programmer. I learned in the 70s on punched 
cards, and used it extensively in the 80s. I have since dabbled a bit with 
Perl, VBA, and Python, doing useful stuff but basically writing Fortran 
programs: you set up the input, hit "Go", and wait for the answer. Python 
is great for this, but I would like to expand and put a useful interactive 
front end on the things I create.

I have tried John Grayson's "Python and Tkinter Programming", but that book 
had me nearly screaming in frustration at it's lack of explanation. It 
tells me that a mainloop is necessary to start the Tkinter event loop, but 
there is no discussion about what an event loop is, or how it works, or why 
I should care other than "you have to do it this way or it won't work". I 
am really bad at cargo-cult programming (just stick these pieces in and it 
will work) - I need to understand what is going on and why something is 
required, then I can expand on things pretty well.

Most of the references I have come across are more about Object-Oriented 
Programming, which is often linked to interactive programming but is not 
the same thing. I think I understand what classes and objects are, and can 
see some of the value in encapsulating and re-using code and data 
structures. What I really don't understand is how to set up a truly 
interactive program, and why it needs to be that way. Any references you 
can send my way will be appreciated.

Thanks for your help.

Russ
-- 
Russ Schmidt       (idt at y12.doe.gov)
BWXT Y-12 L.L.C.
Oak Ridge, Tennessee     37831-2009