[Pythonmac-SIG] wxPython and IDE issues

[Kevin Altis]

On May 11, 2004, at 1:36 PM, Stephanie Schaeffer wrote:

>   I'm just new to Python, having been a Lisp hacker for many years. 
> I'm trying to convert an application I have in MCL Common Lisp to 
> Python. I wonder if someone who has been through some of the following 
> hurdles can help me out a bit.
>
>   1) What is a good IDE to use on the Mac (I have Panther) when you 
> are using wx? The IDE that comes with MacPython doesn't work with wx. 
> I am currently using Dr.Python, but would like a more helpful 
> debugger.
>   2) In MCL lisp, I could create windows interactively and see things 
> happen. I can't seem to do that with Python (and wx). It seems to want 
> to create an application which is then only event driven, and my 
> interactive window where I type in text is ignored until the 
> application stops. Am I missing something here? I am doing this from 
> DrPython. I'd like to be able to interactively create a window, and 
> then call routines to add shapes to it, etc. Preferably without having 
> to implement a separate "listener" of my own.
>
> Should I use a different GUI package? A different IDE? Or am I just 
> asking too much of Python at this stage of its development (especially 
> on a Mac).
>
> Any help would be more than welcome!
>
> Thanks so much,
>     Steph Schaeffer
>     University of Alberta
>     steph at cs.ualberta.ca
>
For the runtime aspects you're looking for, the closest you'll probably 
come is PythonCard; the framework uses wxPython. It has a variety of 
tools: Shell, Namespace Viewer, Message Watcher, and Property Editor. 
You can certainly create objects and manipulate them at runtime, though 
that isn't generally that useful except for experimentation since the 
objects you create at runtime won't automatically be persisted when you 
quit the app unless you write a little handler to do that for you. You 
can also bind events dynamically. Manipulating objects at runtime 
though is standard fare and one of the things PythonCard does pretty 
well. You can continue to use whatever editor environment you want or 
use the codeEditor that comes with PythonCard, just be aware that it 
doesn't have any debugger support right now. The runtime shell and 
other tools reduce the need for a debugger, so it keeps falling off the 
priority list <wink>

http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/

I don't know if PyObjC has a wrapper shell around the Python 
interpreter that can be included with any PyOjbC app. If not, then that 
would be a nice addition.

ka