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Tkinter VS FLTK

Compare Tkinter VS FLTK and see what are their differences

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LibHunt tracks mentions of software libraries on relevant social networks. Based on that data, you can find the most popular projects and their alternatives. featured
Contents:
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  2. » Videos
  3. » Reviews
  4. » Alternatives

Tkinter logo Tkinter

Tkinter is a Python wrapper for Tcl/Tk that offers classes to create various graphical user interfaces.

FLTK logo FLTK

Fast Light Toolkit - Fast Light Toolkit (FLTK)
  • Tkinter Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-28
  • FLTK Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-18

Tkinter features and specs

  • Built-in Standard Library
    Tkinter comes bundled with Python, so there is no need for additional installations. This makes it highly accessible and quick to set up for projects.
  • Ease of Use
    Tkinter provides a simple syntax and an easy-to-understand system for building GUI applications, making it ideal for beginners who are just starting with programming.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Tkinter applications can run on multiple operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux without modification, which ensures broader audience reach.
  • Strong Community Support
    Being part of Python's standard library means that Tkinter benefits from Python's extensive community support, with plenty of tutorials and resources available online.
  • Object-Oriented Approach
    Tkinter supports an object-oriented programming model, which allows for structuring code in a manageable way, especially for larger applications.

Possible disadvantages of Tkinter

  • Limited Widget Set
    Compared to more modern GUI frameworks, Tkinter has a limited set of widgets and may not support advanced user interface features that newer applications might require.
  • Outdated Look and Feel
    The default Tkinter themes and styles may look outdated by modern standards, which might not be suitable for applications where a contemporary design is important.
  • Performance Limitations
    Tkinter may not perform well with applications requiring high-performance graphics or real-time updates, as it is not optimized for these tasks.
  • Learning Curve for Complex Applications
    While simple to use for basic applications, building more complex UI components can become challenging and might require a deeper understanding of the Tkinter framework.
  • Lack of Advanced Features
    Some advanced features like drag-and-drop, custom widgets, or native look and feel on different platforms might be either missing or require additional work to implement.

FLTK features and specs

  • Lightweight
    FLTK is designed to be small and simple, making it easy to compile and port across different platforms without consuming significant system resources.
  • Cross-Platform
    FLTK supports major operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux, making it a versatile choice for applications that need to operate across these platforms with minimal changes.
  • Fast Performance
    FLTK's lightweight nature ensures rapid execution and responsiveness, which is crucial for graphical applications that require quick updates and fluid interactions.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source toolkit, FLTK allows developers to modify the source code to suit specific needs and contribute to its development, fostering a collaborative community.
  • Easy to Learn
    FLTK's API is considered straightforward and easy to learn for developers familiar with C++, reducing the learning curve for new users.

Possible disadvantages of FLTK

  • Limited Features
    Compared to other modern GUI toolkits, FLTK provides fewer built-in widgets and lacks certain advanced features, which may require additional development effort.
  • Old-Style Look and Feel
    The user interface components of FLTK can appear outdated compared to more modern GUI frameworks, potentially affecting the visual appeal of applications.
  • Less Community Support
    FLTK has a smaller community and less frequently updated documentation compared to more popular frameworks, which can make finding help and resources more challenging.
  • Limited Third-Party Libraries
    There are fewer third-party libraries and extensions available for FLTK, which might limit the ease of extending functionality or integrating with other tools and technologies.
  • Single Thread Limitation
    FLTK predominantly works within a single-threaded context for GUI operations, requiring careful management when incorporating multi-threading in applications.

Tkinter videos

+ Add

Which is Better Kivy Or Tkinter? - Python Kivy GUI Tutorial #42

More videos:

  • Review - Python Programming 93 - Review of Tkinter
  • Tutorial - Tkinter Course - Create Graphic User Interfaces in Python Tutorial

FLTK videos

+ Add

P3D Core2 'Frosting' , More FLTK GUI goodies

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Tkinter and FLTK)

Tkinter

FLTK

Developer Tools
100 100%
Developer Tools
0% 0
Development Tools
52 52%
Development Tools
48% 48
Rapid Application Development
52 52%
Rapid Application Development
48% 48
Cross-Platform Development
0 0%
Cross-Platform Development
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Tkinter and FLTK

Tkinter Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master
It’s a great option for creating simple and easy-to-use graphical user interfaces in Python and allows you to add a GUI to your already working scripts pretty easily. PySimpleGUI wraps the power of 4 different GUI libraries, PySide, Tkinter, wxPython, and Remi.
Source: kinsta.com
Which Python GUI library should you use? Comparing the Python GUI libraries available in 2023
Tkinter is a simple library with support for standard layouts and widgets, as well as more complex widgets such as tabbed views & progressbars. Tkinter is a pure GUI library, not a framework. There is no built-in support for GUIs driven from data sources, databases, or for displaying or manipulating multimedia or hardware. However, if you need to make something simple that...
Source: www.pythonguis.com
10 Best Python Libraries for GUI
Another top Python library for GUI is Tkinter, which is an open-source Python Graphic User Interface library. It is well known for its simplicity and comes pre-installed in Python, meaning there is no work on your part. These features make it a great choice for beginners and intermediates, but it is not capable of carrying out larger-scale projects.
Source: www.unite.ai
Top 10 Python GUI Frameworks for Developers
Often referred to as the go-to GUI toolkit by a majority of Python developers, Tkinter was created to equip modern developers with a standard interface to the Tk GUI toolkit with its Python bindings. In Tkinter’s world, most of the visual elements that we’re familiar with are called widgets, and each of these widgets offers a different level of customizability.
Source: towardsdatascience.com

FLTK Reviews

We have no reviews of FLTK yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Tkinter seems to be a lot more popular than FLTK. While we know about 37 links to Tkinter, we've tracked only 2 mentions of FLTK. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Tkinter mentions (37)

  • Building a Lightweight OCR-Powered Receipt Parser
    Tkinter Documentation – Official Python Tkinter library documentation. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • The Adventures of Blink S2e7: A GUI Screen in Python
    For our hangman, I've elected to use Tkinter. It has a pre-built collection of little widgets that make dialog-based apps work, and I think it will be useful for Hangman, which doesn't require a great deal of animation and image management but does require us to have an easy-to-use interface for the user to make changes. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Ask HN: How popular is Tcl in 2024?
    >> So it's hard for me to recommend tk for GUI development. Tcl/Tk is widely used in lightweight legacy GUIs. Python distributions will typically include tkinter (https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.html) which is just a Python wrapper for Tk. Git usually includes the gitk graphical utility which is written in Tcl/TK: - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • A brief interview with Tcl creator John Ousterhout
    Lots of people care about it, and it's alive and kicking in-industry and being developed (Tcl 9 is imminent[0]). I've had fun w Guile over the years (though actually never considered its "heaviness"); fun. I'm constantly amazed at the professional love for Python; its got it's network effect in full-effect: lots of people, lots of software - there's just no denying that. But for Joy of Development, Tcl (and C) is... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Essential Deep Learning Checklist: Best Practices Unveiled
    How to Accomplish: Create a simple interface (CLI or GUI) where users can input an image, and the script processes and displays the model's prediction. For a CLI, use argparse to handle input arguments. For a GUI, consider libraries like Tkinter or web-based interfaces using FastAPI or Flask. The script should perform necessary preprocessing, invoke the model prediction, and present the results clearly, such as... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
View more

FLTK mentions (2)

  • declarative GUI libraries
    It’s not declarative, but small, cross platform, old school C++, and has a graphical UI designer that writes the C++ code for you. Since you mentioned Rust, it has Rust bindings too: http://fltk.org . It has different schemes that make it look more modern than the default scheme…. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • not sure about a file i found in my \AppData\Roaming folder (fltk.org)
    Hello, I was recently looking through my \AppData\Roaming and found a folder called fltk.org and I am not sure of why it is there or where it has come from. Does this folder come from any games that can be downloaded or something? Source: about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Tkinter and FLTK, you can also consider the following products

PyQt - Riverbank | Software | PyQt | What is PyQt?

Qt - Powerful, flexible and easy to use, Qt will help you not only meet your tight deadline, but also reduce the maintainable code by an astonishing percentage.

PySimpleGUI - A simple to use GUI that can create custom GUIs

wxWidgets - wxWidgets: Cross-Platform GUI Library

MD Python Designer - A drag and drop GUI Designer that uses a combination of Tkinter and its own code.

GTK - GTK+ is a multi-platform toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces.

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