[Pythonmac-SIG] Discussion of Python IDE's: strengths and weaknesses (long)

[Russell E. Owen]

In article <42CC08DF.206 at wordtech-software.com>,
 Kevin Walzer <sw at wordtech-software.com> 
 wrote:

> Wolfgang's question has prompted me to think more generally about each
> Python IDE for OS Xthat has been discussed....

> 4. WingIDE: Wing is a (rather expensive) commercial IDE, and as you
> should expect, it doesn't have the stability issues. It also has all
> kinds of slick features, including code/class browsing, extensive and
> well-written documentation, and so on. Wing provides a free license for
> open-source development, which is nice. Wing's howling flaw is that it's
> a GTK-based (meaning X11) application, which I eventually found to be
> such a distraction that I stopped using it.

Have you tried WingIDE 2.0.3 (the current version)? It is *MUCH* more 
mac-like than the previous release. The key bindings are almost all 
natural now and it feels very Mac-like.

The things I like about it are:
- It is rock solid
- Phenomenal support
- Supports debugging application that use any of the GUI toolkits.

Also, I disagree about the price -- it's not that much money and the 
increase in productivity is a major win. Also, good code is worth paying 
for. But I realize it's easier to say that when its not my own money. I 
qualified for a free license and if I hadn't then my job would have paid 
for it.

I've tried a few others. EricIDE looks somewhat promising but as you 
noted it is very unstable on the Mac. I found Eclipse too arcane and 
cluttered, but perhaps it's just a matter of learning it. I plan to try 
Komodo when it arrives, but if it's written using Tcl/Tk then I worry 
that it won't be great on the Mac. Aqua Tcl/Tk has many cosmetic bugs 
that don't show any sign of getting fixed.

-- Russell