About BeeWare

The Unix Philosophy

However, it doesn't have to be that way. The core tenet of the Unix Philosophy is that "each tool does one thing, well". This is a very powerful philosophy, and it enables the composition of extremely powerful toolchains by putting together a suite of extremely focussed, independent tools.

Unfortunately, most UNIX tools have convolved this to also mean "all tools must use a console interface". However, there's nothing in the UNIX philosophy that says that tools have to use a console interface - it's just turned out that way.

The BeeWare project started with the premise we can have the best of both worlds. We can have a chain of composable tools that each do one thing, well. But those tools can also expose their functionality using a rich graphical user interface.

Python everywhere

A modern computing project can't ignore the biggest development in computing of the last 10 years. Python prides itself on being a cross-platform language. 10 years ago, being cross-platform meant being available for Windows, macOS and Linux. These days, mobile computing is much more important. Despite this, there aren't many good options for Python programming on mobile platforms, and cross-platform mobile coding is still elusive.

BeeWare embraces mobile and other emerging platforms (like watches and set-top-boxes) as a first class citizen of the computing ecosystem - because if people have these devices, why shouldn't they be able to write software for them in Python.

Native everywhere

It's easy to use themes to achieve cross-platform. However, it's easy to spot apps that have been built using themes - they're the ones that don't behave quite like any other app. Widgets don't look quite right, or there's a menu bar on a window in an OS X app. Themes can get quite close - but there are always telltale signs.

On top of that, native widgets are always faster than a themed generic widget. After all, you're using native system capability that has been tuned and optimized, not a drawing engine that's been layered on top of a generic widget.

Themes also miss many of the accessibility benefits of native platforms. Modern OS authors spend a lot of time tuning affordances for people with impaired mobility, vision or cognition. If you use native widgets, you usually get these affordances for free. If you reimplement widgets with a theme, you also have to re-implement the affordances.

BeeWare uses native widgets and native functionality, rather than using a theme-based approach to application development.

Python native

BeeWare is also an unapologetically "Python first" framework. We like Python. We like the way it looks, and the way it works. If Python isn't available as a first-class option on a particular platform, we'll do whatever is necessary to make Python available as a development language. And when we have the opportunity to embrace Python idiom for an API or a design, we're going to do just that. That means we're going to use generators, context managers, yield from asynchronous calls, and more, in order to provide the best Python-native API for cross-platform app development.

We're also looking to the future - this means that we support Python 3 exclusively.

Native experience

The experience of using any tool starts with the installation process. Part of BeeWare's "Native everywhere" philosophy is adopting appropriate native mechanisms for installation. If you're using a user-space tool, it should be presented to you as a package that is to be installed in the same way you would install any other tool - be that through an app store, an installer, or a simple executable package. End users shouldn't know that you've written the application in Python.

But if you're using a developer tool or library, then it should integrate with your development environment. And since we're using Python, that means you should be able to install it into your virtual environment using pip install and nothing more. No C-extensions, no compilers, no setting system paths or environment variables - Just install it, import it, and start writing (or running) code.

Diversity and inclusion

A diverse community is a strong community. This means accepting people of all levels of experience, from all backgrounds, of all races, creeds, orientations and expressions. The BeeWare project is committed to developing and maintaining a inclusive, diverse and welcoming community.

To back this up, we have an open offer to mentor anyone who wants to get involved as a contributor, and a Code of Conduct that is rigorously enforced. Any reports of violations of that code of conduct - even by senior community members - will be treated with respect and actioned appropriately.

Healthy and sustainable

It's also important to make sure that the community is accessible and sustainable. It's unfortunately become an accepted part of Open Source culture that "true" Open Source projects have to be developed entirely by volunteers. This acts as a barrier to entry for many groups - the only people able to spend their free time volunteering are those that have free time.

It also frequently leads to burnout and other mental health issues amongst contributors. The fact that depression, anxiety, and burnout are so common in software development communities shouldn't be considered a badge of honour, or a demonstration of how committed a development team can be. It's a problem that needs to be tackled head on, and addressed in the same way a software bug would be addressed - with immediate workarounds, and long term plans to remove the systemic cause of the problem.

While we place incredible value on the contributions of volunteers, we also know that volunteer efforts alone aren't the way to develop a healthy and sustainable community. For that reason, financial sustainability is a key consideration in the operation of the BeeWare project. As a community, we don't ignore the role that money has to play in providing the resources that allows people to begin and continue to contribute. We will, as a community, provide accepted mechanisms for individuals to monetize their work in meaningful ways, and wherever possible, compensate people for their work - without compromising the ideals of Open Source development.