Python GUI Programming with Tkinter: Design and build functional and user-friendly GUI applications, 2nd Edition

This is very good. A must have.

I purchased this book in order to learn more about GUI use and Tkinter. I didn't realize the book is over 600 pages. It starts out extremely simple and gets you going quickly while simultaneously teaching you in an understandable way. I'm only halfway through but so far, it's an awesome book. Goes over everything in great depth and is basically my new Tkinter offline encyclopedia. 10/10

I learned a lot from the book. I loved how you could download a pdf opt of it as well as get all the code that it shows.

He does a terrific job organizing this book and researching the code. I was surprised how much sophisticated code he provides to extend the python base classes. Very clever and helpful.

TKinter has been around for a long time, it has many of the GUI objects that everyone is familiar with (buttons, entry boxes, windows, etc). The book shows how to access the Tkinter system through Python.It is arranged into he following chaptersChapter 1: Introduction to TkinterChapter 2: Designing GUI ApplicationsChapter 3: Creating Basic Forms with Tkinter and Ttk WidgetsChapter 4: Organizing Our Code with ClassesChapter 5: Reducing User Error with Validation and AutomationChapter 6: Planning for the Expansion of Our ApplicationChapter 7: Creating Menus with Menu and Tkinter DialogsChapter 8: Navigating Records with Treeview and NotebookChapter 9: Improving the Look with Styles and ThemesChapter 10: Maintaining Cross-Platform CompatibilityChapter 11: Creating Automated Tests with unittestChapter 12: Improving Data Storage with SQLChapter 13: Connecting to the CloudChapter 14: Asynchronous Programming with Thread and QueueChapter 15: Visualizing Data Using the Canvas WidgetChapter 16: Packaging with setuptools and cxFreezeIt's a pretty comprehensive book of 665 pages going from the basics of Tkinter and how to use basic elements all the way through building complex window system with validating elements etc.All through th ebook are well documented programming examples, showing you how to build an element, and access any results while maintaining portability.Just being able to manipulate windowing code is only part of the story and the book helps with reasoning records and how to display them, using themes, styles and fonts.Cross platform is important and though Tkinter is already available on most platforms Python is, there are things to note like how the operating system treats paths, case sensitivity, links, character encoding and other issues and how to avoid them.Data isn't static so you need to know how to access databases to retrieve or store it or access from the Internet.The final chapter shows how to package your Python program to build a self contained application.There are probably more modern GUI systems around, but Tkinter stems from TCL/TK which has been around forever so available on pretty much every type of system and so if your writing Python programmes that need a GUI and will run on everything, then this could be the book for you. It's very thorough with good examples.

While the preface states that this book is "for beginners whohave learned the basic of Python, but haven't written much beyondsimple scripts" this book conveys a difficult progression forbeginners to follow.Specifically, beginners attempting to follow the initial GUI demoof Tkinter widgets starting on page 10 must follow an explanationof many widgets to page 21 before anything can be displayed.Ideally a beginner should receive feedback for each widgetdiscussed in this introduction to widgets. Please add thenecessary 'pack()' or 'grid()' calls following each widget. Thenadd the 'root.mainloop()' to run the widgets so far.This would allow beginners to verify each widget works explained.Beginners would also be more inclined to play with the code andthus cement their learnings.The next widget would then be inserted before 'root.mainloop()'.Variables do not follow pep 8 naming conventions. Using'myentry' without the recommended underscore only adds frictionfor a beginner to use variables: "Is that name 'myentry' or'my_entry'?" Please use pep8 checkers on your code!An unfortunate impact of tkinter not following pep8 should notimpact developers using proper pep8 suggestions. (Tkinterexisted before pep 8.)Following the unnecessarily obscure Chapter 1 using Tkinterwidgets, Chapter 3 switches to Ttk widgets. The beginner hasreceived only the surface of Tkinter widgets and must now slogthrough a similarly muddled tour of Ttk widgets.Chapter 3 finally provides the first step in implementing thedata entry application. Yet once again readers are forced toenter 13 pages of code and visually test without a UI to verifycorrect entry.Yes, the code for all this has been provided. Readers desiring tounderstand the code will likely want to see results as soon aspossible. Entering the code manually and seeing immediate resultsprovides a great deal of learning.This book places unit testing after many pages of coding.Unfortunately, many other books relegate unit testing as anafterthought.A reader's code may display properly, but what side effects doomthe application to failure? Unit testing should follow each codesegment. Otherwise how can a beginner absolutely know the codeperforms correctly? Code coverage seems to be omitted.The use of mocks for Tkinter is to be commended. The specialhandling with mocks, asynchronous code, and simulating useractions provides useful information.