mirror of https://github.com/kivy/kivy.git
91 lines
3.8 KiB
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91 lines
3.8 KiB
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.. _philosophy:
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Philosophy
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==========
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In case you are wondering what Kivy is all about and what sets it apart from
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other solutions, this document is for you.
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Why bother?
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-----------
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Why would you want to use Kivy? After all, there are many great toolkits
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(or frameworks, or platforms) available out there -- for free. You have Qt and
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Flash, to name just two good choices for application development. Many of
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these numerous solutions already support Multi-Touch, so what is it that makes
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Kivy special and worth using?
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Fresh
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~~~~~
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Kivy is made for today and tomorrow. Novel input methods such as Multi-Touch
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have become increasingly important. We created Kivy from scratch, specifically
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for this kind of interaction. That means we were able to rethink many things in
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terms of human computer interaction, whereas older (not to mean 'outdated',
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rather 'well-established') toolkits carry their legacy, which is often a burden.
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We're not trying to force this new approach to using a computer into the corset
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of existing models (say single-pointer mouse interaction).
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We want to let it flourish and let you explore the possibilities.
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*This* is what really sets Kivy apart.
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Fast
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~~~~
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Kivy is fast. This applies to both *application development* and *application
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execution* speeds. We have optimized Kivy in many ways. We implement
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time-critical functionality on the *C level* to leverage the power of existing
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compilers. More importantly, we also use *intelligent algorithms* to minimize
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costly operations. We also use the *GPU* wherever it makes sense in our
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context. The computational power of today's graphics cards surpasses that of
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today's CPUs by far for some tasks and algorithms, especially drawing. That's
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why we try to let the GPU do as much of the work as possible, thus increasing
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performance considerably.
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Flexible
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~~~~~~~~
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Kivy is flexible. This means it can be run on *a variety of different devices*,
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including Android powered smartphones and tablets. We support *all major
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operating systems* (Windows, Linux, OS X). Being flexible also means that Kivy's
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fast-paced development allows it to *adapt to new technologies quickly*.
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More than once have we added support for new external devices and software
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protocols, sometimes even before they were released. Lastly, Kivy is also
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flexible in that it is possible to use it in combination with a great number of
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different third-party solutions. For example, on Windows we support WM_TOUCH,
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which means that any device that has Windows 7 Pen & Touch drivers will *just
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work* with Kivy. On OS X you can use Apple's Multi-Touch capable devices, such
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as trackpads and mice. On Linux, you can use HID kernel input events.
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In addition to that, we support TUIO (Tangible User Interface Objects) and a
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number of other input sources.
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Focused
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~~~~~~~
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Kivy is focused. You can write a simple application with a few lines of code.
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Kivy programs are created using the *Python* programming language, which is
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incredibly versatile and powerful, yet easy to use. In addition, we created our
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own description language, the *Kivy Language*, for creating sophisticated user
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interfaces. This language allows you to set up, connect and arrange your
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application elements quickly. We feel that allowing you to focus on the
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essence of your application is more important than forcing you to fiddle with
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compiler settings. We took that burden off your shoulders.
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Funded
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~~~~~~
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Kivy is actively developed by professionals in their field. Kivy is a
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community-influenced, professionally developed and commercially backed
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solution. Some of our core developers develop Kivy for a living.
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Kivy is here to stay. It's not a small, vanishing student project.
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Free
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~~~~
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Kivy is free to use. You don't have to pay for it. You don't even have to pay
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for it if you're making money out of selling an application that uses Kivy.
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