With the growing popularity of Python, PyQt and BlackAdder, people will start using these tools who don't want to translate C++ to Python to figure out what they are supposed to do.

This is the first group of people for whom I've written this book: beginning software developers who have chosen Python because it allows them to become productive quickly with a language and an environment that have been designed to accommodate ‘subject specialists'. That is, people who need to get an application done to help them with their work, but who are not developers by profession.

Then there are the experienced developers, people who have been coding in Visual Basic, Delphi or Java, and who, like the first group, now need something a lot more productive and portable. They will be able to grasp the concepts quickly, but may find a lot of use in the advanced code examples and the in-depth discussion of issues particular to PyQt.

Another group of possible readers consists of C++ developers who have turned to Python as a rapid prototyping language. Prototyping with the same GUI library they will use for their final C++ application will give them a definite advantage, as most of the prototype code will remain useful.

Finally there are people who are more experienced in Python than I am, but who want to get acquainted with one of the best-designed GUI toolkits available for the language—there is a lot of interesting content to be found in this book for them, too.

My aim in writing this book was to create a genuine vademecum for Python, PyQt and GUI programming. If you keep referring to this book a year after you've acquired it, if you can find the answer to most of your daily and quite a few of your exceptional problems, and if you tend to keep this book in the vicinity of your desk, then I will have succeeded.