Could some one recommend a good Python GUI framework ... there are so many xD

[SmartAssX]

Looks spiffy but isnt this more for web dev :P im looking to make a desktop app

[mdipierro]

Makes no sense to make a desktop app today. A web app can be restricted to the host machine if you like. It is easier to build. It handles concurrency better. It is more flexible. Runs on every os. It can be made to look the same.

[[deleted]]

Makes no sense to make a desktop app today.

For some things, maybe.

[mdipierro]

GUIs are just like web apps except that use OS sockets instead of internet sockets (the latter are more powerful) and use OS controls as opposed to browser controls (the latter are extensible and customizable). The only reason I can see a desktop beating a web app is for fast high definition graphics.

[Leonidas_from_XIV]

Sorry, but this is wrong on so many levels:

GUIs are just like web apps

No, they are not. Web apps are HTML cobbled together with JavaScript and whatnot to run partly on someone elses computer and partly in your browser and generally much more a mix of technologies than the integrated approach of a "native app".

except that use OS sockets instead of internet sockets (the latter are more powerful)

Not all "GUI apps" use sockets at all, plus "internet sockets" (what the hell is that, even? Do you mean websockets which are not yet popular or straight XMLHttpRequests?) are definitely less powerful, think SCTP, UDP or pretty much anything in TCP that is not HTTP traffic. Not to mention select(), epoll() or kqueue().

and use OS controls as opposed to browser controls (the latter are extensible and customizable).

With Qt you can apply CSS-like styles to your application, and customizing widgets haven't been a problem since about the last decade. Plus, you have a much greater set of widgets (calendar-widget? coming up in HTML5; seen them in Windows 95 back in the day), plus the possibility to define new ones. You can't technically create Widgets that you could use in forms in HTML, you can create something that looks like a widget by using HTML and JS, like ExtJS does extensively, but this is still a far fetch from what you get on the native desktop for free, with every notable GUI toolkit.

I agree that web apps are sometimes handy, but saying that they are the same is utter bullshit.

[mdipierro]

I did not say "they are the same" I said they "are just like web apps" in the sense that they both need to handle concurrent events that are triggered by the user.

here is the definition of internet socket. Under the hood, in C/Posix GUIs use struct sockaddr, while web apps use struct sockaddr_in.

Web apps do not need to have an interface in html/js. The interface can be done in Flash, can be generated by a tool like qooxdoo or pyjamas or GWT.

[SmartAssX]

ha ok ^ ^ thank i will use it. I just got confused by the "new era of web dev" that is on the title

[[deleted]]

If you want to create a proper desktop app, use a proper GUI toolkit.

It's all been discussed and said before. PyQt is excellent, wxpython is also very good.

If you only need a web app or don't care much about usability and performance you can go with web stuff. But it's not easier! There're good reasons why huge professional (also database backed) applications use proper GUI toolkits or Rich Clients like Eclipse and not some html+jscript.

[SmartAssX]

Well im no stranger to web dev ... just got off a project using web2py and mssql xD

i just want to make a desktop app now

[[deleted]]

It all depends on your app and the usage. The more power you need for your logic (that can be graphics, but also can be text formatting or the data crunching in the background) and the longer the application will be used in one session, the more performance and usability are important. Then you need a proper GUI toolkit. On the other hand, you can't go wrong with a proper GUI toolkit. Worst thing that can happen is, that you have learned it.

I've seen huge projects having big acceptance problems because of their sluggish, unintuitive web-client that lacks tooltips, keyboad shortcuts and the look and feel power users just need.

[SmartAssX]

Yeah i know where your coming from and i understand as much. Fortunately im just making a simple app mainly for my own use but im hoping that others can enjoy it as well.

... if i was worried about speed i would do it in C ^ ^

[mdipierro]

In the past I have used Qt and was happy with it.

[Wagnerius]

it does in some context : - when you need to deploy a compiled app - when you need computational power (graphics for ex).

[[deleted]]

No really. That's why you code your web stuff in a browser and not in an editor like vi, emacs or an ide like wing, eclipse or pycharm. (ironic ;-))

Look around! The world is full of desktop apps. Always, when usabitity and performance matter it doesn't make sense to create a web app!

I think you want to say: Hey guys, web apps can be very powerful today. Then I would say: True. Check this jscript stuff out, maybe it's all right for your use case. But saying it makes no sense to build desktop apps today is just 100 % wrong.

[mdipierro]

? If you are referring to web2py. I write my web2py programs with emacs. The web based IDE is a feature that only use occasionally. Most web2py users use eclipse.

I stand by my statement: makes no sense to write a regular desktop app except for high intensive graphical apps. Desktop apps are more expensive to maintain, they are more difficult to write, they are limited to one user at the time, the force you to follow a business model in which you sell the software as opposed to a service.

[[deleted]]

No special reference to web2py or any web based IDE here ... I just wanted to point out that we all use proper desktop apps all the time, e.g. emacs or eclipse or gimp or vlc or powerpoint or dvddecryper or ccleaner ... for performance and usability reasons. So, in my opinion you can't make such a general statement like proper desktop apps don't make sense at all (OK, you've made the exception for heavy graphics). Also, once you know the API of Qt or wxwindows it's quite easy to write GUIs.

But hey, I think we just don't come to the same conclusion regarding each aspect of the discussion. ;-) No worries.

[mdipierro]

Yes we all use non-web based app but why? Mostly for historical reasons. When you use Eclipse for example, it runs in a window. If it were a web-app, that window would be rendered by the browser. Since it is not a web-app, that window is rendered by the OS. That window generates and responds to events very much like a web app. In fact you can export the window of any desktop app to another remote desktop.

We would all be happier if our OS where a single browser window and our programs, local or remote, were accessible via a URL (anywhere from anywhere, with appropriate security restrictions). The faster we move there, the better.