Tkinter and wxPython

[Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes]

Thu, 19 Apr 2001 15:08:03 -0700 in
<mailman.987718170.8562.python-list at python.org>,
Timothy Grant <tjg at hyperlinq.net> spake:
>Tkinter
>-------
>Defacto standard
>Faster to code
>Easier to layout complex screens
>Proven (we know it works)
>on the down side, it feels slow.
>wxPython
>--------
>Looks significantly better
>More robust widget set
>feels faster
>The author works two blocks away (Hi Robin!)
>on the down side, it is unproven and is not the defacto
>standard.
>So, I'm looking for people that have changed projects from one
>toolkit to the other and the reasons why they changed.
>Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

  I haven't used GUIs in Python long, but I started designing Umbra
<http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/Umbra/> with wxPython.  wx works
okay, but I couldn't get consistent behavior between Linux (where I
develop) and Windows (pathetically osbsolete, but ubiquitous), and it
took me forever to figure out how to do anything in it, though this may
just be a conflict of design philosophy.

  Then I tried it again in Tk, after getting Grayson's book[0].  Wow.
It took one weekend to get the GUI up and running, better than it was
under wx, *and* get the start of my 3D graphics display in it.  Tk is
just stunningly easy to do stuff in.  And the layouts just blow away
everything else I've seen.

  Call me mad if you like, but I prefer the look of Tk; it looks like a
real X app under Linux, and like a hybrid X and Windows app under
Windows, which makes me happy because Microsoft's GUI is uglier than
deep-fried roadkill.  I plan on customizing my tools even more to make
them indistinguishable.  Native look-and-feel is only a good idea if the
native l&f is tolerable.  If making your app look like Windows is your
cuppa, then wx is probably better for you.

  I couldn't tell the difference in GUI speed, but I have a reasonable
machine with a lot of memory and a good video card, so I may be spoiled.

  Distribution with Tkinter is just *SO* much easier; the Windows
installer comes with Tk, and almost all Linux installs have it.  Who
installs wxPython?  Basically nobody.

  Overall, a clear and decisive win for Tkinter.

[0] I could wish for slightly more reference and less tutorial, and
maybe a bit less use of Pmw and more raw Tkinter, but it's still the
best GUI book I've ever read.
-- 
 <a href="http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/"> Mark Hughes </a>
"I will tell you things that will make you laugh and uncomfortable and really
fucking angry and that no one else is telling you.  What I won't do is bullshit
you.  I'm here for the same thing you are.  The Truth." -Transmetropolitan #39