how do "real" python programmers work?

["Martin v. Löwis"]

bblais wrote:
> In Python, there seems to be a couple ways of doing things.   I could
> write it in one window, and from a Unix shell call
>                            python myscript.py
> and be like C++, but then I lose the interactiveness which makes
> prototyping easier.  If I use the python shell, I can use import (and
> reload), or execfile perhaps.

For programs, I usually have two shells: one interactive shell where
I test fragments (usually to find out how some library call needs to
be spelled); and another shell to run the program in.

For libraries, I typically reload the library module in a single
interactive shell.

I often want to do sequences of actions. I first type them one
by one, e.g.

py> import httplib
py> httplib=httplib.HTTP("localhost")
py> import httplib
py> h=httplib.HTTP("localhost")
py> h.connect()
py>

Then, I get tired of fetching all the lines from the history
again and again, and rephrase it (through cut-n-paste) as

py> import httplib;h=httplib.HTTP("localhost");h.connect()

Then I only need to fetch a single line from the history
to redo all the initialization.

I set-up readline so the history survives the end of
the interpreter. I quit the interpreter, restart it,
and immediately have the last command I typed available, see
my attached .pythonrc.

Regards,
Martin

# -*- python -*-
#from __future__ import division
import os, sys
sys.ps1 = 'py> '
histfile = os.path.join(os.environ["HOME"], ".pyhist")
try:
    import readline, rlcompleter
    if os.path.exists(histfile):
        readline.read_history_file(histfile)
    readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")

    import atexit
    atexit.register(readline.write_history_file, histfile)

    del readline, rlcompleter, atexit

except ImportError:
    pass

del os,histfile


try:
    help
except NameError:
    try:
        from pydoc import help
    except ImportError:
        pass