Francois,

Thanks for your reply. What IDE are you currently using? Actually, I have started reading up on Java and was stumped for a while on the topic of inner classes. Then I chanced upon a link about VFP guys saying Python would be a comfortable language for us.

I have gone the xBase route ever since the days of dBase II by Ashton-Tate. VFP has been a great tool. Still is. And I will continue to develop with it. I guess you can surmise the amount of inertia I have to overcome to venture into another language.

Which is why I want to choose "wisely" - which one would best fit my needs - to develop desktop and web apps.

My finalists were C# and Java; I chose the latter because it is 'open-source'. Also, I have grown kinda sick of 'following' M$. Till I heard about PYTHON.

Some other questions:

1. Can Python be used for desktop, web and whatever Java and C# can do?
2. Which is the best Python IDE?
3. I came across Dabo as well. Is this also free as in like Python?
4. Dabo is a framework written in Python - right?
5. How long did it take you to start making apps in Python?

Regards
Dennis



>Hi Dennis,
>
>If you are ready to go your ways - not theirs (corporate JAVA or MS) - python is the way to go. For sure. As a VFPer you will feel at home. And some time even better than at home. Since the python user community really OWNs python.
>
>I have used it extensively for servlet development - ie web - and was more than pleased. Python is smart. Much in the way, smalltalk was by the end of the 70s and foxpro was smart at the end of the 80s....
>
>However the python "commander in chief", Guido, has little to no interest in GUIs. He is a language guy. And that good but ... In view of the kind of application I currently produce, python GUI development tools - only loosely integrated - do not fit my bill. But I am starting to investigate wxpython and, more recently, pyqt.
>
>John Fabiani may possibly drop in with some additional information on wxpython, dabo, pyqt and more :)