How to write GUI in Python?

Question

I would like to try to write a GUI application in Python. I found out that there are a lot of ways to do it (different toolkits). And, in this context, I have several basic (and I think simple) question?

1. Is it, in general, a good idea to write a GUI application in Python?

2. What is the standard (easiest and most stable) way to create a GUI applications in Python?

3. Does anybody can give me a link to a simple Hello World GUI application written in Python?

Answer 1

1. Depends on what application you are writing. I would use Python for a simple GUI, yes.
2. Use a proper toolkit (such as PyQt - Python bindings for the popular Qt)
3. Sure

Hello world in PyQt:

import qt,sys

a = qt.QApplication(sys.argv)
w = qt.QPushButton("Hello World",None)

a.setMainWidget(w)
w.show()
a.exec_loop()

Answer 2

If you're looking to make a fairly simple GUI, then PyGTK is extremely easy to use:

http://www.pygtk.org/

A tutorial (with downloadable sample code) can be found here, and another one on the Wiki.

Answer 3

Not quite a duplicate, but this SO posting should give you a comparison of some Python GUI toolkits that would answer #3.

As an answer for #1: Yes. It is quite good for this; scripting languages with GUI toolkits are often a good way to put a GUI on an application. They can also be used to wrap applications written in low level languages such as C or C++. Python offers good integration to quite a few toolkits. The posting linked above gives a pretty good cross section of the options with code samples.

For #2: TkInter comes with the standard distribution. It is easy to use but not as sophisticated as (say) QT or WxWidgets.

Answer 4

I am really fond of pygtk and glade. Pygtk is a python binding for gtk, the gui toolkit used in gnome. Glade is a user interface designer which stores a gui as xml, which can be loaded in pygtk.

• http://www.gtk.org/
• http://www.pygtk.org/
• http://glade.gnome.org/

If you want to see some example code, you can take a look at my project https://launchpad.net/pumped. Just download the source.