[Python-Dev] IDLE maintenance

[Mitchell L Model]

I've been trying to decipher the various mentions of IDLE maintenance 
on this list to determine the likely future (not necessarily feature 
addition, just keeping it working with each new version of Python 
and, I suppose, Tk) , who is currently responsible for it, and who 
will be responsible for it. Presumably these questions have official 
answers somewhere, but I wouldn't know where to find them.

I have several strong reasons to want IDLE to survive, including 
using it in teaching and writing, where it becomes absurd to provide 
instructions full of variations based on different IDE's. IDLE is 
sufficient for introductory courses and books, and useful for many 
purposes even beyond that. The community should want to minimize the 
entry friction new users experience, and new users in these times 
will not necessarily have any experience with command-line shells or 
editors like vi and emacs. IDLE is at just the right level for 
someone new to Python to just jump in and start exploring or even for 
someone with reasonable Python experience investigating a new area of 
the library.

As I said, I don't know the plans or people surrounding IDLE are. If 
it needs a new maintainer I hereby volunteer. Discussions about my 
qualifications should probably be conducted through email to me 
personally, rather than through this mailing list, using the address 
I use when submitting issues to the tracker: mlm at acm.org.
-- 
		Mitchell L Model, Ph.D.
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