Discussion regarding the book 'A Byte of Python'

[Swaroop C H <swaroop AT byteofpython.info>]

Hi all,

  I was hoping we could start off our first discussion - choice of GUI toolkit
for Python.

  There are three choices in my mind - PyQt, PyGTK2, and wxPython.

  My personal preference is for PyQt but the Windows version is not free. I 
lay
strong emphasis on the cross-platform abilities of Python and hence this rules
out PyQt.

  The two contenders are PyGTK2 and wxPython.

  wxPython is cross-platform and works on Linux, Windows, Mac and even 
embedded
systems. The license is also very liberal. However, it is a moving target. I
simply have trouble installing it and the 2.5.3 version has significant
improvements but is unstable. Also, Jerome writes that wxPython does not
produce good code - the article is at http://www.larsen-b.com/Article/189.html
(don't forget to read the comments). But still wxPython is very popular and I
even recently got a mail from someone who works at a motor manufacturing
company who asked me if I could write on wxPython...

  GTK2 seems to be a better option here although I'm not very comfortable with
it myself (as I said, I prefer PyQt). PyGTK2 comes default on most Linux 
boxes.
There is good support on Windows as well. The screenshots at
http://www.workrave.com/screenshots/windows/ is evidence of that. There is
Glade which does the GUI building part and PyGTK2 has a full tutorial at
http://www.pygtk.org/pygtk2tutorial/index.html - so I can just give a good
introduction and help readers get started with PyGTK2, then they can learn
about the other widgets and stuff through that tutorial.

  So, here are my thoughts about it - Do you guys have any suggestions?

  It actually boils down to one question - if you are going to write a
complicated GUI in Python, which of these toolkits would you use?


=====
Swaroop C H
Blog: http://www.swaroopch.info
Book: http://www.byteofpython.info