Python and IDEs [was Re: Python 3 is killing Python]

[Gregory Ewing]

MRAB wrote:
> I'd heard people say how user-friendly Apple Macs were, but when I got
> to use one I was somewhat disappointed.

Well, they were compared to MS-DOS and the like, which was
all that was within reach of the general public when the
first Mac appeared. RISCOS came along somewhat later.

> in MacOS, even if I had a directory window open, I had to navigate to the
> directory in the Save dialog.

Yes, that was annoying. It wasn't a problem to begin with,
because the original Mac was strictly single-tasking --
you couldn't *have* a directory window and an application
open at the same time. And all your files were on floppies
in a flat file system -- folders only existed in the
Finder's imagination -- so the only real choice to be
made when saving a file was "which disk do I put it on".

When multitasking, hard disks and hierarchical file
systems came along, there was an opportunity for a
rethink, but it never really happened.

Things are somewhat better in MacOSX, where you can drag
a folder from a Finder window onto a file dialog to take
you there, but there is still more of a distinction between
Finder windows and save dialogs than there needs to be.

> And don't mention the menu bar across the top, separated from the
> window to which it belonged.

That seems to be a matter of taste. There are some
advantages to the menu-bar-at-top model. It's an easier
target to hit, because you can just flick the mouse up
to the top. It only takes up space once, instead of
once per window. It makes it possible for an app to
be running without having any windows, and still be
able to interact with it.

> Or the way that clicking on any window of an application or the Finder
> brought not only it but also all of the its siblings to the front.

MacOSX has fixed that one, thankfully. Only the window
you click comes to the front, now.

-- 
Greg