To edu-sig: ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Kirby Urner <kirby@clarusway.com> Date: Sun, Aug 18, 2024 at 7:32 AM Subject: Fwd: Side topic: IDEs To: kirby urner <kirby.urner@gmail.com> Feel free to write to me at Clarusway as well. Kirby ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Kirby Urner <kirby@clarusway.com> Date: Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 4:26 PM Subject: Side topic: IDEs To: Edwin W <edwin@clarusway.com>, kirby urner <kirby.urner@gmail.com> Hi Edwin -- I thought we could have more than one thread going, branching off Incoming Cohort Planning (ongoing). I've seen and taken various approaches to the topic of Interactive Development Environments. Here are some talking points I've used: * you the developer have a choice from a huge variety of IDEs <https://www.creativebloq.com/advice/best-code-editors>, and they continue to evolve. * Don't be afraid to sample several. * Even when you have a favorite, you might want to keep dabbling with the competition, just to see what they're like * IDEs divide into two major categories: (a) IDEs that work with many computer languages, usually by means of "plug ins" (b) IDEs devoted to one primary language only (example: Spyder) Screenshot of me using Spyder just now (when I wanted to test that pi generator again): [image: Screen Shot 2024-07-24 at 4.18.08 PM.png] Sometimes I talk about the history, meaning the lineage, meaning some IDEs grew up inside Windows whereas others derive from a Linux/Unix/Mac background (vi vim emacs). If I'm sharing my screen, I can show some of these IDEs while I mention them, otherwise it can just be information embedded in some Notebook. I used IDLE for years, the IDE that comes with Python when you get it from Python.org. Anaconda gives you Spyder. One reason Python became very popular is because IDLE is cross platform, running in Windows, Mac, Linux pretty much the same way. Guido got a US government grant to work on IDLE (even though he's a Dutch citizen). When I worked for O'Reilly School of Technology, we had our students using remote (cloud based) versions of Eclipse, which was cutting edge but also a bit awkward. Eclipse <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_(software)> (open source project of IBM) features plug-in architecture and works with many languages, but was especially made for Java. I understand that the Clarusway Python courseware is Notebook based, which is not a problem, that's a good environment. I was just wondering if you think it's worthwhile to talk about IDEs, how they are different from Notebooks, and how a Python coder has a choice from many of them. I like how Spyder integrates features and have used it a lot when sharing from an IDE when teaching Python online. Kirby