Joshua Willman - Modern PyQT: Create GUI Applications for Project Management, Computer Vision, and Data Analysis

Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to readers on GitHub via the books product page, located at www.apress.com/9781484266021 . For more detailed information, please visit http://www.apress.com/source-code .

When setting out to write this book, I didnt realize that data was the underlying theme the whole time. In everything we do now, data can be extracted. Our habits can be analyzed and models created to improve the ways in which we live. Data can be used to train and teach intelligent computer systems to think and make predictions. As we continue to add to the heaps of data that already exist, our understanding of the world continues to grow.

We understand what data is a collection of numbers, names, words, and other types of information. Data can either be organized or jumbled and left up to us to clean and discern any meaning. The question this book aims to answer is how do we access and manipulate the information hidden within. That is the beauty of PyQt and graphical user interfaces (GUIs). We can create any application that visualizes and works with various kinds of data, including text, images, video, audio, or anything else. With PyQt, you can also easily leverage the power of existing Python modules in your applications.

That is what this book focuses on, showing you how to get started creating the different tools you need to interact with the data you collect. In Modern PyQt, we will begin to take a look at some of the ideas related to various fields and technologies that are being used in business and research today. Topics related to business and project management, data science, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, computer vision, and more are introduced.

PyQt is an amazing tool for creating desktop, mobile, and embedded applications. Modern PyQt focuses on creating desktop applications for Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms. There are so many modules and classes to cover that it is impossible to cram them all into a single text. This guide aims to create a foundation for getting you started in building your own GUI applications.

This guide is intended for intermediate-level Python programmers or above with experience developing and coding GUIs. Modern PyQt is created both for GUI developers who have used PyQt before and are looking for assistance in building applications and for programmers who have experience using other toolkits, such as Tkinter or wxPython, and the concepts they have learned can be carried over for developing applications with PyQt.

It must be stressed that this book is not an introduction to UI or GUI development, PyQt, or Python. You wont find a section that explains how to code in Python or lists all of the PyQt classes. There is an overview of PyQt in Chapter , but if this is your first time creating GUIs, it is recommended that you dont rely on Modern PyQt for teaching the basics. More focus is given on the creation of applications and features that will enhance the capabilities of GUIs.

Each chapter contains example programs, projects, or both. Examples are designed to introduce each chapters programming concepts. Projects will work toward creating either a complete application or the foundation for a program that you can modify and improve by adding your own features.

There are a few occasions when you will come across mathematical formulas. Variables representing vectors and matrices are set in boldface to follow typographical conventions.

This book uses the current version of Python, version 3.8. The only exception is in Chapter , when you may need to roll back to an earlier version of Python to use the PyInstaller module.

As of this writing, the version for PyQt is version 5.15. Applications in this book will work on Python versions 3.5 and higher.

Various chapters will require you to install different Python or PyQt packages to run the code. There are numerous ways to install Python packages, such as installing from source, in a virtual environment, or using package managers or tools such as Anaconda. To keep a uniform method for installation throughout this book, the Python Package Installer (pip) is used. pip installs packages from the Python Package Index (PyPI). This method will be followed unless otherwise stated in the text. If you prefer a different method, there are tons of tutorials on the Internet to assist you.

pip should already come with Python, but if you find that you dont have pip installed on your computer, information about installing the package manager for your specific platform can be found at https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/ . More information about installing pip for Linux can also be found in the documentation.

One final thing to note is that this text installs packages using pip3 instead of pip. With Python 2 recently no longer supported, pip3 is only used to ensure that the Python 3 environment is being used. You can still use pip instead of pip3.

To give the breakdown on how to get started creating desktop applications with PyQt, Chapter will give you the lowdown on creating applications that use the drag and drop mechanism.

Chapters , youll be introduced to the PyQt module for working with 3D data.