Tkinter, wxPython, PyGtk, or PyQt...

[Alex Martelli]

carljohan.rehn at chello.se wrote:

> I would like like to start doing some GUI-programming in Python, but don't
> know which library to choose.
> 
> Tkinter seems a bit old. Correct me if I am wrong! The layout doesn't look
> as nice as for the others.

Yes, it's old (and others have expressed doubts about its looks).  F. Lundh
is preparing a revamped version but I don't much about it.


> wxPython seems to be the first-hand choice for people doing
> W32-programming (with MFC-experience).

If win32 is your target and mfc your experience, pythonwin may be
what you want.  wxPython is, however, cross-platform.

> PyGtk seems to be a modern, very clean and nice approach, but with poor
> W32-support. Is PyGtk a mature library with respect to version stability
> and documentation.

Not sure, sorry.

> PyQt is a huge library (thanks to Qt), but not free on W32, or?

Right, either not free or limited on win32.  I got a license for it as a
part of Blackadder, now out of beta and costing $50 I believe.  It's
indeed a marvel of power and ease of use on all scores, IMHO.  But
if you must have the full power on win32 and can't spend that much,
it's not an option.

> Is there any possibility that any of the above-mentioned libraries will be
> included as a standard library in any of the near-future Python
> distributions?

If you mean those made by the PSF, I don't see anything taking the
place of Tkinter in the near future.  Tkinter is what wonderful free
PSF tools like IDLE are based on, so it will stay.  Other distributions
are perfectly free to bundle all they want.


> I myself program on W32 at work, but use Linux at home. So, which one
> should I start with in order to reduce the effort of learning something
> new and to be productive in the shortest time possible?

If you're sure you can't afford any form of PyQt, Tkinter is probably
simplest to use, but limited and maybe not as good-looking as you
might like, wxWindows is probably richer and better looking.


> By the way, how do I most easily include plotting capabilities to my
> Python-apps?

A couple dozen tools are linked to from:
http://www.python.org/topics/scicomp/plotting.html
and there are few others too.  I do not know which one will be
easiest for you to use.


Alex


> 
> Carl