6 Qustions about Python: Does it do GUI? more...

[John Roth]

"Will" <k4bda at yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.11.1076682913.31398.python-list at python.org...
> I just discovered Python and looked briefly at one of the tutorials
> for beginners...
>
> It looks a lot like the old Command line Basic... I'm sure it does
> much more but...
>
> 1 - Can you create windows, buttons, user input fields, etc as you
> can with Visual Basic?

Yes and no. Yes, you can use one of several GUI toolkits
(an interface to TK comes with Python) to construct user
interfaces. No, it does not have the ease of drag and drop
building UI and data base programs that VB does.

> 2 - Can you call Windows Procedures or what ever they call them
> these days?

With some work, yes. There are several extensions for that.

> 3 - Can you create your own objects with a bunch of methods and
> properties?

That's how you program in Python, after all.

> 4 - Can you create a Windows program that looks and feels like a
> Windows program?

If you want to. It's possible to access the Windows graphics API,
but it's not really the easiest thing to do. Most people will use
one of the other graphics toolkits.

> 5 - Does it come with a compiler or must the user have the
> interpreter on their machine?

No compiler, but there are ways of avoiding having to install
the interpreter as a separate step.

> 6 - Why another language? Easier than C or C++ or Visual C ?? More
> powerful than Visual Basic or the competing Borland productg?? Why
> Python?

There's a Python history somewhere; it started out as the scripting
language for an operating system research project at a university in
the Netherlands. As a language, it tries to maintain a productive
balance between simplicity and power in an OO framework.

> I'm interested as I never really took the time to become much of a C
> programmer (or C++ or Visual C) - I've done lot's of assembly
> language/embedded processor stuff & years ago Basic and some Visual
> Basic... before .net... and wondered if Python would do me for some
> projects I have always wanted to do?

Unless they are really unusual projectes, most likely.

> Thanks for any info.

You're welcome.

>
> Will
>
>
>