[Pythonmac-SIG] Mac User Python newbies

[Troy Rollins]

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 17:59:46 -0500, Bob Ippolito <bob at redivi.com> wrote:
> 
> On Feb 8, 2005, at 5:46 PM, Troy Rollins wrote:

> > cohesive toolset. There are thousands of individual parts and pieces,
> > lots of semi-working IDEs and debuggers...
> 
> Welcome to free software?

Ha. Fair enough. I guess my point is mostly that Python seems pretty
mature, and yet still manages to be scattered. I realize that the best
thing would be for me to take the task on myself, but I'm barely
versed enough yet to run packageManager... and frankly don't even know
if that is the best way to manage all the parts and pieces.

> > 1) Python
> > 2) An IDE and debugger (Xcode?)
> > 3) A GUI toolkit (wxWidgets?)
> 
> I'd highly recommend PyObjC if cross-platform isn't an immediate goal.
> Other than that, wxPython seems to be the default, but you'll probably
> have to fight with it to do what you want.

I've looked at this, and it looks as though it will allow the use of
Interface Builder for GUI, driven by Python. While that is only a Mac
solution, it may be a great route to get started with. So, I take it
that I don't have to use Xcode for the code writing...?

> No, Xcode can not provide you with any more than syntax highlighting.
> Debugging is not an option beyond interacting with pdb on a console
> (same as you would from Terminal).  It's possible to write such a
> feature, but there is no public API for doing so, so nobody is likely
> to do it.

Fair enough, then Xcode is out, unless it is required for PyObjc.

> 
> PyOXIDE is out there, Mac OS X native, and open source, but it might be
> immature (I don't have real experience with it, so I can't say).  All
> the rest are either ancient and featureless (the MacPython IDE), or
> based on cross-platform toolkits and aren't very Mac-like.  I have
> heard good things about Wing, which is a commercial IDE for Python, but
> only runs under X11 for Mac OS X.

I've tried PyOxide, which is very promising, but doesn't seem fully
stable yet. Currently, Wing seems the best equipped, but its X11
approach feels a bit like a Java app. I guess it may be the best
available right now, and it is certainly more stable than the others.

> 
>> To move
> > from a commercial IDE with many bells and whistles (like Director)
> > into a black and white text editor would seem a bit harsh.
> 
> Most text editors worth using have syntax coloring, SubEthaEdit,
> BBEdit, Xcode, etc.    Even the ones you would use from a terminal
> (Emacs, Vim) are going to have syntax highlighting.

Yes, SubEthaEdit does seem pretty good for Python (I actually use it
for Lingo too.)

> 
> -bob

Thank you for the input!

-- 
Troy Rollins
RPSystems, Ltd.
www.rpsystems.net