[Python-ideas] Off topic: 'strike a balance' - second language English

[Chris Barker]

On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 3:07 PM, Jonathan Fine <jfine2358 at gmail.com> wrote:

> > Maybe this is something Python's REPL should do?
>
> Good idea.
>

I can't find (with very little effort) any documentation of this, but I
have a vague recollection that the core devs want to keep the built-in REPL
really simple -- more advanced features are for third party packages like
iPython.

I tend to agree -- while something like this: "making the built-in repl
more friendly t copy-and-paste from examples" seems like a no brainer, the
fact is that there are a LOT of features that would make it easier for
newbies, and in the end, you'd end up with something like iPython.

Honestly, Python does "suffer" a bit when in competition with commercial
products, in that it is a language (and an implementation of that
language), not an entire programming environment. So to use it, you need to
figure out which Editor or IDE you want to use, what debugger, etc.....

And the REPL, while being pretty key to interactive data analysis, is not a
key feature of programming languages in general, even interpreted ones.

So the solution is: use a third party solution for a complete environment
suitable for your needs. For instance, for people doing data analysis, I
recommend Anaconda -- then you get iPython and JUpyter (and Spyder) out of
the box -- and away we go.

maybe it's worth a note t pyton-dev to confirm my vague impression (or some
more thorough googling for previous discussions) -- but I wouldn't put much
effort into ideas for the REPL without confirming that the core dev are
open to the concept.

-CHB


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Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
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