[Idle-dev] IDLE plans
Markus Gritsch
gritsch@iue.tuwien.ac.at
Wed, 01 Mar 2000 16:27:07 +0100
--------------A26221E7A54C1F4E30A8A08A
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Guido van Rossum wrote:
> We need project management (again, PythonWorks is a good example; but
> so is VC++ or any number of Windows apps). This is relatively simple
> and straightforward. Question: should there be a 1-1 correspondence
> between projects and directories?
I think it would be very valuable to have a look at the GUI of "Forte for Java
Community Edition". This de facto standard IDE for Java from Sun has a lot of
great ideas realized in its GUI. For example it provides different views of
the Sourcecode - one includes a filesystem-based one, and another realizes a
project-based one. So I don't think there should be a 1-1 correspondence
between projects and directories.
> We discussed IDLE's current tendency to create lots of top-level
> windows, versus a more "pane-oriented" approach. We couldn't reach a
> conclusion, except that pane-oriented should probably be an option.
> We decided to put off coding the pane-oriented version.
Here again, Suns Forte4Java IDE can be used as a very well done example: The
IDEs GUI also uses lots of top-level windows (like IDLE does), but the first
time the IDE starts, it places the separate windows at appropriate locations,
so the screen isn't as much cluttered as it is by using lots of IDLE windows.
Maybe the windows of IDLE could be also placed by IDLE itself. Anyway, to
better understand what I mean, it would help to take a look at forte4java in
action.
The Call tip window which pops up when you type the name of a known function
followed by an open parenthesis. Is already very useful. Even more useful
would be a feature similar to the completion-feature in forte4java (o.k. at
this point I think I have to apologize citing forte4java features all the time,
but personally I find this IDE *very* usable, and maybe this would be the right
direction to go fot Idle): By pressing CTRL-SPC a pop-up menu comes up with
all the appropriate methods fitting to the so far typed text. To make this
clear lets say we have an object calles "myObject" whith some methods. By
typing
myObject.
^
cursor is here
and then pressing CTRL-SPC one sees all the methods myObject has to offer.
After typing
myObject.lis
^
cursor is here
and pressing CTRL-SPC, all the methids of myObject starting with "lis" are
shown, and so on.
I use this feature all the time, and it prevents me in most cases from looking
into the API.
Regards,
Markus
--
|\/\/\/|
/------------------------------------------------------------------\ | |
| Markus GRITSCH | phone: +43 / 1 / 58801-36015 | | |
| Institute for Microelectronics | cellular: +43 / 676 / 4973431 | | (o)(o)
| Technical University of Vienna | fax: +43 / 1 / 58801-36099 | C _)
| Gusshausstrasse 27-29 / E360 | email: gritsch@iue.tuwien.ac.at | | ,___|
| A-1040 Vienna / AUSTRIA | SMS: 436764973431@max.mail.at | | /
\------------------------------------------------------------------/ /____\
/ \
"Computers let you make more mistakes faster than any other invention in human
history, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila."
Mitch Radcliffe
--------------A26221E7A54C1F4E30A8A08A
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
Guido van Rossum wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>We need project management (again, PythonWorks is
a good example; but
<br>so is VC++ or any number of Windows apps). This is relatively
simple
<br>and straightforward. Question: should there be a 1-1 correspondence
<br>between projects and directories?</blockquote>
I think it would be very valuable to have a look at the GUI of "Forte for
Java Community Edition". This de facto standard IDE for Java from Sun has
a lot of great ideas realized in its GUI. For example it provides
different views of the Sourcecode - one includes a filesystem-based one,
and another realizes a project-based one. So I don't think there
should be a 1-1 correspondence between projects and directories.
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>We discussed IDLE's current tendency to create lots
of top-level
<br>windows, versus a more "pane-oriented" approach. We couldn't
reach a
<br>conclusion, except that pane-oriented should probably be an option.
<br>We decided to put off coding the pane-oriented version.</blockquote>
Here again, Suns Forte4Java IDE can be used as a very well done example:
The IDEs GUI also uses lots of top-level windows (like IDLE does), but
the first time the IDE starts, it places the separate windows at appropriate
locations, so the screen isn't as much cluttered as it is by using lots
of IDLE windows. Maybe the windows of IDLE could be also placed by
IDLE itself. Anyway, to better understand what I mean, it would help
to take a look at forte4java in action.
<p>The Call tip window which pops up when you type the name of a known
function followed by an open parenthesis. Is already very useful.
Even more useful would be a feature similar to the completion-feature in
forte4java (o.k. at this point I think I have to apologize citing forte4java
features all the time, but personally I find this IDE *very* usable, and
maybe this would be the right direction to go fot Idle): By pressing
CTRL-SPC a pop-up menu comes up with all the appropriate methods fitting
to the so far typed text. To make this clear lets say we have an
object calles "myObject" whith some methods. By typing
<p><tt>myObject.</tt>
<br><tt> ^</tt>
<br><tt> cursor is here</tt>
<p>and then pressing CTRL-SPC one sees all the methods myObject has to
offer. After typing
<p><tt>myObject.lis</tt>
<br><tt>
^</tt>
<br><tt>
cursor is here</tt>
<p>and pressing CTRL-SPC, all the methids of myObject starting with "lis"
are shown, and so on.
<p>I use this feature all the time, and it prevents me in most cases from
looking into the API.
<p>Regards,
<br>Markus
<pre>--
|\/\/\/|
/------------------------------------------------------------------\ | |
| Markus GRITSCH | phone: +43 / 1 / 58801-36015 | | |
| Institute for Microelectronics | cellular: +43 / 676 / 4973431 | | (o)(o)
| Technical University of Vienna | fax: +43 / 1 / 58801-36099 | C _)
| Gusshausstrasse 27-29 / E360 | email: gritsch@iue.tuwien.ac.at | | ,___|
| A-1040 Vienna / AUSTRIA | SMS: 436764973431@max.mail.at | | /
\------------------------------------------------------------------/ /____\
/ \
"Computers let you make more mistakes faster than any other invention in human
history, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila."
Mitch Radcliffe</pre>
<p> </html>
--------------A26221E7A54C1F4E30A8A08A--