Tkinter: The good, the bad, and the ugly!

[Bill Felton]

On Jan 19, 2011, at 10:20 PM, Michael Torrie wrote:

> On 01/19/2011 05:01 PM, geremy condra wrote:
>> On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 3:04 PM, rantingrick <rantingrick at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> And you've also lost all
>>> connection with the people. I am desperately trying to to snap you out
>>> of this psychosis before it is too late! Tkinter will be the downfall
>>> of Python if we cannot muster the resolve to replace it with something
>>> that is current (or more current) technology.
> 
> I don't see the original bizarre rants for some reason (spam filter
> likely), but I have to say this is the most ridiculous thing I've heard
> in some time.  Tkinter the downfall of python?  Wow.  All of the python
> programmers I know (we use python every day at work) would  say, "what
> is tkinter?"  It's just not relevant to any of them that I know.  Google
> probably uses as much Python as anyone, and their programmers would
> probably agree.  Perhaps that's an argument to remove tkinter entirely,
> but not really a good one.
> 
With some hesitation, I feel a need to jump in here.  
I'm a complete newbie to Python.  
I'm still learning the language.  And you know what?  I've ignored Tkinter.  I quickly discovered the alternatives and am already working with wxPython.   
I can't believe anyone is so hung up by their own arrogance that they honestly believe that the mere *presence* of a gui kit inside of the standard distribution would prevent a newbie from learning about the existence and possible benefits of alternatives.  Sure, *they* can see alternatives and evaluate why Tkinter might not be a good choice under conditions x or y or z, but god forbid anyone new to the language should have to confront those issues or be asked to make such a decision.  How could we trust those lowly newbies to think *properly* about the issue!
ESPECIALLY in a language widely touted for the vast array of external libraries available.
The attitude that the standard distribution needs this kind of obsessive, hysterically blinkered, focused on irrelevant minutiae is far more likely to be the downfall of the language than the presence of a sub-optimal gui kit that no one is required to use.
As one of 'the people' who is presumably the focus of rantingrick's concern, let me assure him Tkinter is a non-issue.  MIchael is more in touch with my issues than rr, and appears to be suffering fewer disconnects from the reality of a programming language that ships with a large standard library and offers a plethora of extensions and alternatives, widely available and easy to find.

cheers,
Bill