[Tutor] Python Advice Needed

[Matthijs]

(ahem, accidentally bcc'ed this message to the wrong address)

Anthony P. wrote:
> Good Evening Everyone,
> 
> I've decided to embark on a rather ambitious new project and am
> seriously considering using Python for it. Basically, I'm creating a
> kiosk system that will need to be available 24/7, handle network and
> hard interfaces, and present a nice GUI to the customer.
> 
> After reading a lot on both this group and a few other sites, I think
> that a combination of Linux, Python, and wxPython would be ideal for
> this task. But I wanted to ask those of you who actually use these
> technologies what you think. Do you believe that this combination is
> acceptable for a commercial, user facing product? Am I being a bit too
> "gung ho" about Python?
> 
> I know I don't have the expertise to pull this project off all by
> myself so I will have to hire some programmers. Is hiring Python
> programmers any more cost effective than hiring say a C++ programmer
> or a Java programmer? From a financial standpoint (the open source
> thing not withstanding), does Python make sense?
> 
> Thanks everyone,
> Anthony

You may seriously want to consider PyGTK for this project, since it 
seems you will only run the application on Linux.
I don't have much experience with PyGTK. But for a Linux-only 
application it seems the obvious choice.

The great strength of wxPython is its crossplatformness, which works 
great (in particular on Win32, I might add), but will still limit you in 
various areas. Whereas PyGTK is native to GTK, so it should be more 
straightforward on Linux.

And yes, Python makes sense. I've done a lot of C, C++, Java and (even) 
dotNet. And Python is in my opinion the most friendly combination of 
language, libraries and runtime to work with.

Oh, and in my experience, wxPython is very stable.

Good luck,
Matthijs de Smedt