Example of how to code a GUI with a socket listener using Python threads

thread-example.py

import socket
import threading

""" Create a thread listening for client connections and enter the GUI mainloop
"""
def main():
  server_socket = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
  server_socket.bind((socket.gethostname(), 80))
  server_socket.listen(5)
  client_sockets = []
  listener_thread = threading.Thread(target=socket_listener)
  listener_thread.start(server_socket, client_sockets)
  mainloop(client_sockets)
  

def mainloop(client_sockets):
  while True:
    local_user_text = raw_input("> ") # This call blocks
    # do something in your GUI with whatever the user typed in, i.e.:
    # for client_socket in client_sockets:
    #     client_socket.send(local_user_text)
  

def socket_listener(server_socket, client_sockets):
  while True:
    client_socket, address = server_socket.accept() # This call blocks
    client_sockets.append(client_socket)


if __name__ == "__main__":
  main()