[Python-ideas] Should iPython Notebook replace Idle

[Nick Coghlan]

On 5 July 2015 at 19:26, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> Basically agreeing with what's been said already: IPython is an application
> that has Python (and some other things) as a dependency. So is IDLE. Python
> itself should ideally not be bundled with any applications -- it's a
> historical accident that IDLE is in the stdlib. Of course there should be a
> basic command prompt, but I think that the existing one based on GNU
> readline is fine for that purpose.

This does raise an interesting question though: should we perhaps
update the "getting & installing" parts of
https://docs.python.org/3/using/index.html to cover more of the
available options?

For users interested in Python for research and data analysis, for
example, the SciPy page on installing Python would likely be a better
starting point than our upstream guide:
http://www.scipy.org/install.html

Similarly, someone looking for a more sophisticated IDE than IDLE
would do well to explore PyCharm, Komodo, Wingware, Visual Studio
Community Edition, or one of the other options listed at
https://wiki.python.org/moin/IntegratedDevelopmentEnvironments

It may also be worth our while to update
https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html and/or
https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/interpreter.html to include a
cross-reference to the usage guide for more detailed installation
instructions (it took me a moment to remember where the platform
specific installation guides were myself, so it wouldn't surprise me
if someone reading the tutorial with no other context also had trouble
finding them).

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia