Couple of Qs: ActiveState or "standard" distribution? (and GUI toolkits)

[David LeBlanc]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: python-list-admin at python.org
> [mailto:python-list-admin at python.org]On Behalf Of Chris
> Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2002 0:11
> To: python-list at python.org
> Subject: Couple of Qs: ActiveState or "standard" distribution? (and GUI
> toolkits)
>
>
> A couple of newbie questions (for the future, right now I am speedking
> through Learning Python):
>
> 1) Is there any compelling reason for choosing an installer from
> python.org
> instead of the ActiveState distribution for my Windoze machine? I have
> both, and they seem quite similar, right down to the editor and GUI
> shell...

The difference between AS Python and Python.org Python are:

 * AS Python includes PythonWin. PythonWin is available separately for
python.org Python.
 * AS includes a Windows Scripting Host interface that is not otherwise
available anywhere AFAIK.
 * AS distribution can't be redistributed under the terms of it's license
without permission.

So, if you want to do Python scripts/macros in Excel or Word (or IE?),
you'll need to get AS Python. If that's not so important to you, then it's
either or... If you want to bundle a Python distro with an app and
redistribute it, python.org Python is the only choice compared to AS Python
(there are, or where, other distros of Python - see www.pythonware.com for
one). My choice has to been to lean towards what I see as the more open
solution of python.org Python and the separate PythonWin distribution.

> 2) What graphic toolkit should I use? I see talk about TKInter, wxPython
> etc etc. I have a few criterion: I'd rather not learn another language
> (TCL?) at the same time, I'll be primarily developing for use on Windows,
> though being able to move cross-platform would be cool, I'd like
> something
> that is in active development. Where should I start?

It's a toss-up IMO. Tkinter tends to have more docs available, both "the"
tkinter book and tcl books and more apps done in it (Tcl isn't hard to
learn, but i'm biased since I used it for over 5 years before switching to
Python and I think it's a warm fuzzy 'lil critter). You also don't really
have to learn Tcl to program tkinter. WxPython seems to have the edge on
performance and "in the box" features (although, there are a number of
excellent addons for tkinter, among them tix and blt, that (again, IMO) make
that less compelling). One definite advantage of tkinter is that it comes
with the python distro, no matter who you get it from. WxWindows and
therefore WxPython is undergoing more development, while tkinter is based on
a far more mature codebase (which is still being actively developed - at
least the Tk part of Tkinter).

Dave LeBlanc
Seattle, WA USA