[Edu-sig] Python Editor / IDE for HS students

[kirby urner]

Hi Kevin --

I've generally used IDLE as well.  I think Vim gets in the way if you
don't have the reflexes.  With older adults, there's often a strong
allegiance to a text editor and it's considered presumptuous for a
teacher to specify which one, unless there's a strong rationale for
using something special.

In the "something special" department, have you considered PyCrust and
PyAlaMode?  I'm strongly considering teaching GUI Python for my
Saturday Academy course this winter, and wxPython has this way of
integrating the IDE with the wx event loop that looks very productive.
 Plus Patrick has all that fancy namespace and and calltip windowing
going, in the notebook (bottom half of the screen).  He considers it
"a toy" but it's all relative.  So is an aircraft carrier.

The Py stuff wraps Scintilla, as you may know, which many swear by.  I
think *at minimum* you need color coding, and check to see if all the
key words have been colored (not every editor is as up to date as
every other, given how Python keeps changing e.g. is 'yield' seen as a
keyword?).

Kirby


On 7/24/06, Kevin Driscoll <driscollkevin at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm preparing a new diskimage for a WinXP-based computer lab and
> deciding the editor or IDE I'll use to teach Python this year.
>
> I always include my preference, Vim, but typically my students have
> used either Textpad or IDLE.  Although I like Textpad, I want my lab
> to be as free as possible so I'm leaning towards SciTE.
>
> What are your experiences with editors / IDEs and Python?  I've used
> Eclipse with Java, how is the PyDev plugin?  Is there a good editor
> with method completion and collapsible codeblocks?
>
> Flexibility is valuable, because they'll also be using this editor for
> XHTML / CSS but Python is the most demanding unit.
>
> Kevin
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