It's always Python+X somehow, where X is a whole different thing you have to lea...

digi_owl · on May 5, 2016

The basic issue is that Python do not have a UI lib of its own, so if you want to do anything beyond a CLI you need to introduce a third party.

GregBuchholz · on May 5, 2016

https://docs.python.org/2/library/turtle.html

    Python 2.7.9 (default, Dec 10 2014, 12:24:55) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (Intel)] on win
    32
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> import turtle
    >>> turtle.forward(100)

duaneb · on May 5, 2016

Bingo. Teaching kids programming is exactly what turtle is meant for.

mhurron · on May 5, 2016

Now that's bringing back some memories.

snuxoll · on May 5, 2016

Isn't TK usually part of the standard library? Of course, then you have to build your UI in code, which can be a lot for a beginner - which I why I stated QML or GTK Composite Templates, both allow you to design your UI in the relevant tool (QtCreator, Glade) and then just wire it up. Speaking from experience, the trial and error of creating UI's in code instead of through a markup language with an editor that can preview it is a pain.

copperx · on May 6, 2016

Well, Java does have a UI lib of its own and it doesn't make shipping an executable simpler.

digi_owl · on May 6, 2016

This is not about shipping executables. Its about kids being able to sit down and bang out a program, complete with a UI.

dragonbonheur · on May 6, 2016

Most kids want to make games and have their friends and the world play them. Desktop software isn't dead either. Real artists ship.

snuxoll · on May 5, 2016

I don't really think GTK is that difficult to get a grasp on with composite templates. It's a little less "magic" than VB6 since I'm not just dumping code into a partial form class where the rest of the accessors to the COM controls are generated for me, but it's pretty straightforward in Vala right now (I use glade to design a UI, much like the classic WinForms designer - annotate a class with a GtkTemplate attribute and then put GtkChild attributes on class members to have the widgets automatically assigned there).

In Python it'd look like

    @GtkTemplate("my_window.ui")
    class MyWindow:
        @GtkChild my_textbox
        
        @GtkCallback
        def button_clicked(self, btn):
            my_textbox.text = "Hello, World!"

dragonbonheur · on May 5, 2016

GTK in FreeBASIC is simple as well - just translate the C function calls into BASIC. FreeBASIC is really C++ without the curly braces so it's really a good covert way to gradually turn userland programmers into system programmers