Coding

10 Best Free and Open Source Command-Line Python Application Development Tools

Last Updated on May 29, 2022

Python is a general-purpose high-level programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes programmer productivity and code readability. It has a minimalist core syntax with very few basic commands and simple semantics, but it also has a large and comprehensive standard library, including an Application Programming Interface (API).

It features a fully dynamic type system and automatic memory management, similar to that of Scheme, Ruby, Perl, and Tcl, avoiding many of the complexities and overheads of compiled languages. The language was created by Guido van Rossum in 1991, and continues to grow in popularity, in part because it is easy to learn with a readable syntax. The name Python derives from the sketch comedy group Monty Python, not from the snake.

The prominence of Python is, in part, due to its flexibility, with the language frequently used by web and desktop developers, system administrators, data scientists, and machine learning engineers. It’s easy to learn and powerful to develop any kind of system with the language. Python’s large user base offers a virtuous circle. There’s more support available from the open source community for budding programmers seeking assistance.

The command line interface (also known as CLI) is a means to interact with a command line script. Python comes with several different libraries that allow you to write a command line interface for your scripts, but argparse, click and docopt are popular ways to create a CLI in Python.

And there’s lots of other command-line application tools available. Here’s our legendary ratings chart.

Best Free and Open Source Command Line Development Python Tools

Let’s explore the 10 command-line Python application development tools. For each program we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, together with links to relevant resources.

Command-Line Python Application Development Tools
Python FireLibrary for automatically generating command line interfaces
argparseParser for command-line options, arguments and sub-commands
ClickCreate beautiful command line interfaces in a composable way
GooeyConvert console programs into end-user-friendly GUI software
Python Prompt ToolkitBuild powerful interactive command line and terminal applications
TyperLibrary for building CLI applications
docoptCommand-line interface description language
AsciimaticsCreate full-screen text UIs from interactive forms to ASCII animations
cementCLI application framework for Python
cliffFramework for building command line programs
Best Free and Open Source SoftwareRead our complete collection of recommended free and open source software. Our curated compilation covers all categories of software.

The software collection forms part of our series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. There are hundreds of in-depth reviews, open source alternatives to proprietary software from large corporations like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk.

There are also fun things to try, hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more.
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