interactive graphics?

[Doug Holton]

Elaine Jackson wrote:
> I'm intrigued by the pedagogical possibilities of those Java applets where you
> can manipulate an image by mouse-dragging. Is there any prospect of doing
> something similar with Python? And if so, where might one start?

Do you mean like an applet that lets you draw?  Or an applet that takes 
a pre-existing image and you can alter it (like make it fuzzy or draw 
over it)?  Or an applet that lets you add shapes and move them around?

There isn't as much on the Python side as Java, but you can do all these 
in Python.

If you are using Windows, I would recommend starting off by trying out 
wxPython (http://www.wxpython.org/) and running the demo.

If you are wanting to do something like a drawing or image altering 
application, see in addition to the demo:
http://wiki.wxpython.org/index.cgi/WorkingWithImages
http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/

If you are wanting something that can do interactive structured 
graphics, where you can add shapes and drag them around, see for 
example: http://bellsouthpwp.net/p/r/prochak/pyxel.html

And also check out http://pygame.org/ and http://www.nongnu.org/pygsear/