[Tutor] Simple physics simulations)

[Alan Gauld]

"Jim Morcombe" <jmorcombe at westnet.com.au> wrote

> I want to write a program that helps teach students how to draw ray 
> diagrams for lenses and mirrors.

For simple 2D lines and arcs then the basic Canvas widget
of Tkinter or wxPython would be fine.

> Vpython seems to be used for a number of physics simulations, but 
> may be  overkill for my application.

I don;t know too much about VPython and have certainly never
used it but it might be better suited to more complex 3D work.

> like to do, most just involves drawing curves and simple objects, 
> and allowing the User to do the same.
>
> So the question - What is the best thing to use to draw and 
> manipulate simple 2D objects in an application like this?

I'd start with the basic Canvas. There are several tutorials around
showing how to build basic drawing apps and these could be
modified to do what you want.

HTH,


-- 
Alan Gauld
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld