What GUI toolkit looks the best?

Cameron Laird claird at lairds.com
Thu Dec 11 12:46:08 EST 2003


In article <7xad5z1jq5.fsf at ruckus.brouhaha.com>,
Paul Rubin  <http://phr.cx@NOSPAM.invalid> wrote:
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>> but don't take my word for this, why don't you see what you like the best?
>> 
>> http://www.wxpython.org/
>> http://www.gtk.org/
>> http://www.scriptics.com/
>> http://www.trolltech.com/
>
>I don't know what I can really tell from these without more experience
>with them.  In particular, which is the most solid and reliable across
>a wide range of Windows versions (95, 98, ..., XP whatever)?  That
>matters too.
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I want to say a few words about portability and comparisons.

I'm very reluctant to advise "see what you like the best" in regard to
GUI toolkits
<URL: http://www.informit.com/content/index.asp?product_id=%7BCC8D8943-BC39-45B9-B455-2B608FA03C48%7D&session_id=%7B65C794A2-51C8-4FD3-8BD8-22F70A0695E0%7D >
the way I do for high-level languages.  We all know it's entirely 
realistic to counsel a newcomer, "Give yourself an hour, and you can 
download and install Python (or Perl, or Ruby, or ...) and try it out
for yourself.  You'll get a good first impression of how the language
operates."

It's not the same, though, for C# vs. Java, or the GUI toolkits.  There's
a considerably greater start-up cost involved in exercising them meaning-
fully.  You really are best off with advice from a live person whom you
trust.

You probably must "see what you like the best" ultimately, because your
requirements are unlikely to duplicate those of your potential mentors.
We can, however, help focus your search--and I'm posting because I think
we should.

<URL: http://www.scriptics.com/ > isn't the URL I recommend; Scriptics
stopped doing business under that name three and a half years ago.  <URL:
http://wiki.tcl.tk/tk > is a safe choice.

You ask, "which is the most solid ...?" for Windows.  I *am* a fan of 
Tkinter, and the answer to this question explains much of that.
Tkinter's portability story is at least as good as that of any of the
alternative toolkits, and, I argue, better than all but Qt (depending
on your sentiments about licensing).  You're likely to get quite a
range of testimony in this regard; I certainly know GTK+ experts who
seem quite productive under Windows.  In my experience, though, Tkinter
just *thumps* all the others, in regard to the robustness of its 
portability.

How's it happen you're not talking about Java (Jython, say)?  In fact
I think it wouldn't be right for you; I'm surprised, though, not to hear
you mention it.
-- 

Cameron Laird <claird at phaseit.net>
Business:  http://www.Phaseit.net




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