[Edu-sig] Re: PyCrust, IDLE

[Patrick K. O'Brien]

Okay, you guys can stop twisting my arm now. I'm 80% of the way to having
all the multi-line functionality that you are asking for. I'll let you know
when I'm at 100%, but if you want a sneak peak, the current CVS version of
PyCrust now has the following features:

* Commands can be retrieved with Ctrl-Up or Alt-P for the previous command,
Ctrl-Down or Alt-N for the next.

* Command history retrieval now brings back the entire multi-line command,
which you can then modify, including adding and deleting lines.

* Commands retrieved from history are inserted into the existing text and
highlighted, rather than replacing the current command. This makes it much
easier to build new commands that use parts of old commands.

* Commands can be searched for by typing a few letters and hitting F8, which
then cycles through matching commands. Commands retrieved this way are also
inserted and highlighted.

The one feature that I don't yet have finished is being able to put the
cursor on a previous command, hit enter, and get back all the lines in the
command, rather than just the single line. That is next on my list. I'll
keep you posted.

The PyCrust CVS repository is available at:

http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=31263

---
Patrick K. O'Brien
Orbtech
"I am, therefore I think."

-----Original Message-----
From: edu-sig-admin@python.org [mailto:edu-sig-admin@python.org]On Behalf Of
Christian Mascher
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 3:27 PM
To: edu-sig@python.org
Subject: [Edu-sig] Re: PyCrust, IDLE


> From: Kirby Urner <urnerk@qwest.net>
> Subject: [Edu-sig] PyCrust
>
> One thing that's cool about IDLE is if I have
> a multi-line function or class defined at the shell
> prompt, I can scroll back and click on any of these
> lines to get a full copy of the whole function or
> class -- which I may now edit/revise.  Having only
> a single line copy down doesn't allow easy re-editing.
> If I use copy/paste, I can get multiple lines, but
> the interpreter seems to only recogize the last
> one.

I want to second this. When using python in the classroom, I've always
used IDLE
mostly because of this feature. I realized the importance of the
"multi-line recall by cursor movement" when I installed a Python-shell
on an old win3.1-laptop lately (no TK, no IDLE): editing is really no
fun in shell mode, so I couldn't work with it as before which is about
like this:

Together with a beamer, we often start by using one IDLE-shell as an
experimental interface, where one pupil can code an algorithm and test
it directly, while the class can follow the interaction on the projected
screen. Any occuring errors can be corrected by others, functions can be
modified step by step in hardly any time. This is a very efficient way
in working with a whole class. We seldom edit a file. In the case that
we do, the process is slowed down by the distraction of having to save
the file etc. In IDLE we stay focussed on building the
function-algorithm. And we can play around a lot even in a classroom
situation, because we don't have to type that much when we do a change.

Afterwards pupils had little difficulty in using idle when doing
problems on their own with a partner.

I must confess I haven't tried out pycrust yet though it sounds
promising.

Christian


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