20.1.2.1 How To Use This Section

This section is designed in two parts: the first half (roughly) covers background material, while the second half can be taken to the keyboard as a handy reference.

When trying to answer questions of the form ``how do I do blah'', it is often best to find out how to do``blah'' in straight Tk, and then convert this back into the corresponding Tkinter call. Python programmers can often guess at the correct Python command by looking at the Tk documentation. This means that in order to use Tkinter, you will have to know a little bit about Tk. This document can't fulfill that role, so the best we can do is point you to the best documentation that exists. Here are some hints:

• The authors strongly suggest getting a copy of the Tk man pages. Specifically, the man pages in the mann directory are most useful. The man3 man pages describe the C interface to the Tk library and thus are not especially helpful for script writers.

• Addison-Wesley publishes a book called Tcl and the Tk Toolkit by John Ousterhout (ISBN 0-201-63337-X) which is a good introduction to Tcl and Tk for the novice. The book is not exhaustive, and for many details it defers to the man pages.

• Tkinter.py is a last resort for most, but can be a good place to go when nothing else makes sense.

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