Wheel-reinvention with Python

[Cliff Wells]

On Sun, 2005-07-31 at 16:38 -0700, Paul Rubin wrote:
> Cliff Wells <cliff at develix.com> writes:
> > The bottom line is this:  some people like Tk, some wxPython.  Each has
> > advantages and disadvantages.  But to claim that you *can only* do
> > something in one or the other only demonstrates that you haven't really
> > tried.
> 
> I can put up a Tk gui in about 5 lines of code from a stock Python
> distro without having to install anything additional.  How do I do
> that with wxPython?

How can I embed a browser in Tk (I mean a real browser, like Mozilla,
Safari, or even Exploder)?  At all?  On any platform?  This has always
been the tradeoff for Tk.  wxPython has a much larger selection of
sophisticated widgets than Tk does (I first tried wxPython because of
its grid widget, which Tk didn't have at the time and the pure Tk
version I wrote was sloooow.  I doubt Tk still has anything that
compares). 

I'm working on improving my user interface designs and I'm leaning
toward the hybrid HTML + GUI systems as seen in many utilities (such as
Norton AV, AdAware, etc).  I don't see that approach as being even
remotely possible in Tkinter.

Tk is great for learning, easy to write small, basic interfaces, less
great for deploying real world apps with sophisticated interfaces.  I've
often felt that Tk was the VB of GUI toolkits: terrific for knocking out
simple stuff, but starts to bite you in the *** when you try to do the
hard stuff.  wxPython is the opposite: it has a steeper learning curve,
but once you know it, you can do amazing things.  For me, the long term
benefits are far more important to me than how low the startup costs
are.

Besides, as mentioned earlier, you *do* need to install something
additional: the python-tkinter package such as:

http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.4.1/rpms/fedora-3/python2.4-tkinter-2.4.1-1pydotorg.i386.rpm

Although I'll also admit it seems that it can be easier (for many
people) to mess up your wxPython install than your Tkinter install.


Regards,
Cliff

-- 
cliff at develix.com
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