Wikipedia
PyQt is a Python binding of the cross-platform GUI toolkit Qt. It is one of Python's options for GUI programming. Popular alternatives are PySide (the Qt binding with official support and a more liberal license), PyGTK, wxPython, and Tkinter (which is bundled with Python). Like Qt, PyQt is free software. PyQt is implemented as a Python plug-in.
PyQt is developed by the British firm Riverbank Computing. It is available under similar terms to Qt versions older than 4.5; this means a variety of licenses including GNU General Public License (GPL) and commercial license, but not the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). PyQt supports Microsoft Windows as well as various flavours of Unix, including Linux and OS X.
PyQt implements around 440 classes and over 6,000 functions and methods including:
- a substantial set of GUI widgets
- classes for accessing SQL databases ( ODBC, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite)
- QScintilla, Scintilla-based rich text editor widget
- data aware widgets that are automatically populated from a database
- an XML parser
- SVG support
- classes for embedding ActiveX controls on Windows (only in commercial version)
To automatically generate these bindings, Phil Thompson developed the tool SIP, which is also used in other projects.
In August 2009, Nokia, the then owners of the Qt toolkit, released PySide, providing similar functionality, but under the LGPL, after failing to reach an agreement with Riverbank Computing to change its licensing terms to include LGPL as an alternative license.