How to protect Python source from modification

[Frank Millman]

Bugs wrote:
> As a side question Frank, how was your experiences using wxPython for
> your GUI?
> Any regrets choosing wxPyton over another toolkit?
> Was it very buggy?
> How was it to work with in general?
> Any other real-world wxPython feedback you have is appreciated.
>
> Frank Millman wrote:
> > I am writing a multi-user accounting/business system. Data is stored in
> > a database (PostgreSQL on Linux, SQL Server on Windows). I have written
> > a Python program to run on the client, which uses wxPython as a gui,
> > and connects to the database via TCP/IP.
> >
> <snip>

Difficult to give a balanced answer, but I will try.

wxPython more or less chose itelf. I need the gui to work on Windows
and Linux. Alternatives were Tkinter and PyQt. I got the impression
from reading other comments that Tkinter is a bit old-fashioned and
does not have a native look and feel, and PyQt is not free on Windows.
That left wxPython. I did not evaluate the others, so I cannot compare
directly, but do I have any regrets - no.

Some things that I thought would be difficult I found amazingly easy.
Other things that should have been simple gave me endless trouble.
Understanding the concept of 'sizers' (for laying out the widgets on
the screen) took me a while to grasp, and it is still not 100% clear,
but I can get it to do most of what I want.

The cross-platform capability is very good, but there were times when I
got something to work on one platform and not the other. After much
experimenting I usually managed to get it to work on both, often with a
surprising side-effect - the code I eventually used was often cleaner
and felt more correct than my original attempt, and therefore if I had
been more experienced and done it the 'right' way in the first place, I
may not have had a problem.

Documentation is not perfect, though it is being worked on. The primary
source is the documentation for wxWidgets, which is written in C++.
Some people have commented that they do not understand the format, as
the C++ function calls are not quite the same as Python's, but
personally I did not find this a problem. A bigger problem is that the
documentation does not keep up to date with the product, so there are
often new features available that are not apparent. I have got into the
habit of doing a dir() on most of the objects, to see if they have any
methods that are not listed in the docs - quite often they do. Work has
started on proper wxPython documentation, and apparently it looks quite
good, but I have not used it. There is also a book in the pipeline.

Support from the wxPython community is exceptional. There is a very
willing and helpful mailing list, and a wiki with a lot of useful
stuff. The main developer of wxPython, Robin Dunn, is a regular
contributor to the mailing list, and is the authoritative source of up
to date information. Unfortunately he has been tied up with personal
business for a few months, and his absence from the list is quite
noticeable. I am sure I speak for the entire list when I say I am
really hoping that he returns soon - it makes us realise how dependent
we are on him.

Overall, I have found the experience frustrating from time to time, but
I am happy with what I have achieved. I have shown samples of my app to
a few people, and the appearance has never even raised a question - it
just looks and feels like a modern gui application, and I can get on
with demonstrating the functionality, which is as it should be.

My 2.5c

Frank