Most effective coding.. IDE question.

[dave]

Hello everyone,

I'm a beginning self-taught python student.  Currently, I work out my 
code within IDLE then when I have a version that I like, or that's 
working, I move it over to a new window and save it.

I've been playing w/ Komodo IDE lately, and while it's nice, what I 
don't like is the "one line at a time" (produced by hitting up-arrow) 
in the shell.  In IDLE, ctrl-p can reproduce a whole function or class 
- opposed to only the last line in Komodo.

Is my IDLE method common?  Or am I simply creating more of a headache 
for myself?  What do you recommend?  I'm not that advanced and don't 
need anything fancy.  I'm on OS X.

Thanks!

Dave