[Python-Dev] Replacing IDLE

[Michael Foord]

anatoly techtonik wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 12:10 AM, "Martin v. Löwis" <martin at v.loewis.de> wrote:
>   
>>> Anatoly's question is actually a fair one for python-dev - we're the
>>> ones that *ship* Idle, so it is legitimate to ask our reasons for
>>> continuing to do so.
>>>       
>> OTOH, the second (or, rather, third) question (does anybody think it
>> should be replaced) is indeed on-topic for python-dev.
>>     
>
> That is the exact question I have in my mind. Sorry for not being able
> to state it clearly. I'll be more straightforward next time.
>
>   
>> I didn't really answer that question before, so I do now: I have not
>> personally plans to replace it, and I'm skeptical wrt. anybody else's
>> plans unless there is specific code in existence that IDLE could be
>> replaced *with*.
>>     
>
> There are a lot of Python editors. It is unlikely that they implement
> all IDLE features, but I believe that 20% of IDLE features that is
> used by 80% of users are guaranteed by any editor out of the box.
> Assuming that they are more extensible than IDLE anyway. (I would say
> "perfection is achieved when there is nothing more to add...", but I
> promised to be straightforward).
>
> If we filter list of http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonEditors by
> language/license/framework, we will be able to see if there is any
> suitable open source Python code to replace IDLE's.
>
>   

Why replace IDLE?

> Then there will be another issue - all editors are based upon some
> frameworks - I didn't see any popular cross-platform GUI toolkits in
> Python, so we will inevitably face the need to replace Tkinter with
> other default GUI toolkit.
>
>   
This just *won't* happen. (At least not in the forseeable future.) 
Better filter your list to only those IDEs that use Tkinter or have a 
GUI not dependent on packages that aren't already in the standard library.


Michael

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