[Pythonmac-SIG] Mac User Python Newbies

[Bob Ippolito]

On Feb 13, 2005, at 9:23, Jon Schull wrote:

>> Open source developers work on whatever they want or need to work on, 
>> so the particular problems you have will get solved when someone with 
>> the time, skill, and motivation to do so decides to scratch that 
>> itch.  If you want to speed this process along, you have a few 
>> options:
>>
>> - Persuade a suitable developer to work on the problem areas you have 
>> (usually with money or a job)
>> - Fix the problems you have yourself (hey, at least you CAN)
>> - Deal with it as-is
>>
>> .. beggars can't be choosers :)
>>
>> -bob [ comment in the context of distribution packages but it applies 
>> to the discussion of IDE chaos as well].
>
> My comment:
>
> (1) In this business, beggars do  choose, and they vote with their 
> feet.   If a beginner-friendly IDE is not an interesting problem for 
> cognoscenti, the python foundation (or some such) should step in, or 
> the python community should consider the possibility that the 
> demographics of the development community is in danger of ceding  the 
> next generation...
>

Well, either the current state if Python tools is good enough or it 
isn't.  Perhaps the threat of a new user not sticking with Python is 
suitable motivation for some developers, but obviously not all of them, 
because then Python would do everything for everyone already :)

Python has been getting better tools and easier to pick up over the 
years.  How could this possibly put it in "danger of ceding the next 
generation"?  So what if the Director or Revolution equivalent doesn't 
spring from the ashes tomorrow?  When it does, it will be great, but 
there's years worth of programmer years that go into such a product.  
I'm not aware of such an effort, so it's probably not going to happen 
very soon.

Python does already ship with an IDE, IDLE, which is probably pretty 
new user friendly and it does have the one feature that most of the 
other IDEs don't have.  It runs sub-interpreters out of process by 
default, so running GUI applications works.

-bob