[Idle-dev] more interesting ideas for idle

[Terry Reedy]

On 9/26/2013 8:07 PM, Tom M wrote:
> I've been using the MatLAB IDE lately, and it has a few things that
> would be worth looking at for IDLE
>
> 1) a button next to the prompt that can be used for browsing and
> searching for functions
> this is really useful if you either aren't sure what module you need
> for a specific function, or just want to get a feel for the various
> functions available from assorted modules

This strikes me as duplicating the manuals. Many people keep them 
available is a separate window.

> http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/find-functions-using-the-function-browser.html
>
> 2) a window showing currently available variables and their values
> it shows all variables that are currently in scope, the number of
> elements the variable contains, etc.

The debugger window has this, but it only works with files run from the 
editor. It is modal (the only way forward is the buttons in the window). 
It might be possible to reuse code to have an option for a separate 
non-modal read-only popup for global names.

> http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/workspace.html

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy