## What is wxPython?

wxPython is a blending of the wxWindows GUI classes and the Python programming language.

Python

So what is Python? Go to http://www.python.org to learn more, but in a nutshell Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. It is often compared to Tcl, Perl, Scheme or Java.

Python combines remarkable power with very clear syntax. It has modules, classes, exceptions, very high level dynamic data types, and dynamic typing. There are interfaces to many system calls and libraries, and new built-in modules are easily written in C or C++. Python is also usable as an extension language for applications that need a programmable interface.

Python is copyrighted but freely usable and distributable, even for commercial use.

wxPython

wxPython is a Python package that can be imported at runtime that includes a collection of Python modules and an extension module (native code). It provides a series of Python classes that mirror (or shadow) many of the wxWindows GUI classes. This extension module attempts to mirror the class heirarchy of wxWindows as closely as possible. This means that there is a wxFrame class in wxPython that looks, smells, tastes and acts almost the same as the wxFrame class in the C++ version.

wxPython is very versitile. It can be used to create standalone GUI applications, or in situations where Python is embedded in a C++ application as an internal scripting or macro language.

Currently wxPython is available for Win32 platforms and the GTK toolkit (wxGTK) on most Unix/X-windows platforms. The effort to enable wxPython for wxMotif will begin shortly. See Building Python for details about getting wxPython working for you.