Is Python good for graphics?

[Doug Holton]

Esmail Bonakdarian wrote:
> First of all, I *really* like Python ;-)
> 
> I need some help with the graphical side of things. I would like to do
> some basic graphics with Python, but I am not sure what the best/most
> effective way for me to do what I want.
> 
> Basically, I would like to be able to create some basic animations
> where I can help visualize various sorting algorithms (for instance
> http://ciips.ee.uwa.edu.au/~morris/Year2/PLDS210/sorting.html#insert_anim)
> or graph searches (coloring nodes as each gets visited). (Something
> like this: http://cs.smith.edu/~thiebaut/java/graph/Welcome.html)
> 
> Or to create and manipulate programmatically a simple 2-D block puzzle
> (like this: http://www.johnrausch.com/SlidingBlockPuzzles/quzzle.htm).
> 
> Note, the ability to do this via the web would be nice, but definitely
> is *not* required at the moment.

I'll tell you know it's not going to be so easy.  There isn't something 
in python like flash.  But here are some options:

See pyxel for python: http://bellsouthpwp.net/p/r/prochak/pyxel.html
and pygame: http://pygame.org/
Gato, the graph animation toolkit, is implemented in python and tkinter: 
http://www.zpr.uni-koeln.de/~gato/

You know you can use java with python, too.  It's called jython.  You 
could use jython to interface the open source physics toolkit, for 
example: http://www.opensourcephysics.org/
See also the Jython Environment for Students (JES).  A book about it is 
supposed to be published tomorrow actually.

And you can use a python-like language for .NET called boo with the 
Piccolo.NET structured graphics toolkit: http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/jazz/
or these graph drawing toolkits: http://netron.sourceforge.net/ewiki/
http://www.codeproject.com/cs/miscctrl/quickgraph.asp