also has internet roles we'll meet briefly in ironpython in very similar veinthe ironpython system--an implementation of the python language for the net environment and runtime enginewhichamong other thingscompiles python programs to net bytecode--also offers python scripts gui construction options in the net framework you write python codebut use #net components to construct interfacesand applications at large ironpython code can be run on net on windowsbut also on linux under the mono implementation of netand in the silverlight client-side ria framework for web browsers (discussed aheadpythoncard an open source gui builder and library built on top of the wxpython toolkit and considered by some to be one of python' closest equivalents to the kind of gui builders familiar to visual basic developers pythoncard describes itself as gui construction kit for building cross-platform desktop applications on windowsmac os xand linuxusing the python language dabo an open source gui builder also built on wxpythonand bit more dabo is portablethree-tiercross-platform desktop application development frameworkinspired by visual foxpro and written in python its tiers support database accessbusiness logicand user interface its open design is intended to eventually support variety of databases and multiple user interfaces (wxpythontkinterand even html over httprich internet applications (riasalthough web pages rendered with html are also kind of user interfacethey have historically been too limited to include in the general gui category howeversome observers would extend this category today to include systems which allow browser-based interfaces to be much more dynamic than traditional web pages have allowed because such systems provide widget toolkits rendered by web browsersthey can offer some of the same portability benefits as web pages in general the going buzzword for this brave new breed of toolkits is rich internet applications (riasit includes ajax and javascript-oriented frameworks for use on the clientsuch asflex an open source framework from adobe and part of the flash platform silverlight microsoft framework which is also usable on linux with mono' moonlightand can be accessed by python code with the ironpython system described above python gui development options