[Python-Dev] Re: ajuba solutions (formerly scriptics) acquired by interwoven

[Robin Dunn]

I'm not on python-dev so please be sure to copy me on replies.


"Greg Wilson" <gvwilson@nevex.com> wrote:
>
> I thought about using wxPython in the most recent run of my Python course,
but
> decided to stick to Tkinter because:
>
> - There isn't a wxWindows/wxPython book (matters a lot when organizations
are
>   trying to decide what to adopt for long-term use).
>

This is something I am hoping to change in the near future.  I have a lot of
ideas, have been putting an outline together, and have a phone conference
with a potential publisher tomorrow.

> - Tkinter came packaged with the 1.5.2 installer, wxPython didn't.
>
> - There aren't as many tools on top of wxPython as there are on top of
Tkinter.
>   In particular, I think that a vector drawing package on top of wxPython
that
>   did what Sketch does, but on Windows as well as Linux, would make a
great
>   subject for a book on Python, non-trivial OO, and HCI (hint, hint...)

Hint received and understood...


"Andrew Kuchling" akuchlin@mems-exchange.org wrote:
>
> It seems to me that supporting MacOS is the big problem for
> cross-platform GUIs.  There are several different systems such as Qt
> that aim for portability across Windows and Unix, but add in the MacOS
> and the options really decrease.  How good is wxWindows support for
> MacOS?

My understanding is that the version in CVS is nearly up to date with the
features in the MSW and GTK versions, though I haven't had a chance to use
it myself.  It's in use in at least a few commercial applications around the
world.

The next step I guess is getting it wrapped up in wxPython, which should
just be a matter of porting some of the low level startup and helper code,
and putting some ifdef's in the SWIG interface files for things that may be
different in the Mac version of wxWindows.  Unfortunately, given the current
state of the amount of my spare time and relative Mac-illiterate-ness, it's
either going to require someone else to work on it and be wxPython-Mac's
champion, or somebody needs to fund my ramp-up and development time so I can
cut back on other things.  The good news is that I have been loaned a Mac
and CodeWarior and such to play with, I just haven't found the time to play
much lately.



"Guido van Rossum" guido@python.org wrote:
> Plus, Tk has two very high quality widgets: the Canvas and Text
> widgets are unsurpassed in functionality and robustness by other
> widget sets.  You can draw more lines or characters per second in most
> toolkits, but few toolkits offer the convenience of marks and tags,
> not having to deal with refresh events, being able to group objects,
> move them around, change attributes, etc., etc., etc.
>
> The Scintilla text widget comes close (and surpasses Tkinter in some
> respects, while coming short in others),

Just in case anybody didn't know already, wxWindows/wxPython has a wrapper
around Scintilla available called wxStyledTextCtrl.

> but I know of no widget in a
> popular widget set that offers anything close to the Canvas widget.

wxWindows has a canvas widget in development right now.  I've been trying to
nudge the developers working on it towards features found in the tk canvas
and the GNOME canvas widget.  I have high hopes for it but I'm not sure how
long it will be before it gets to the same level as the others.


--
Robin Dunn
Software Craftsman
robin@AllDunn.com
http://wxPython.org     Java give you jitters?
http://wxPROs.com        Relax with wxPython!