[Pythonmac-SIG] xcode as IDE?

[Hubert Holin]

Paris (U.E.), le 14/02/2006

	Bonjour


On 12 févr. 2006, at 05:48, pythonmac-sig-request at python.org wrote:

> From: Bob Ippolito <bob at redivi.com>
> Date: 12 février 2006 05:06:33 HNEC
> To: I.Vinogradov <vinogri at mcmaster.ca>
> Cc: pythonmac-sig at python.org
> Subject: Re: [Pythonmac-SIG] xcode as IDE?
>
>
>
> On Feb 11, 2006, at 7:39 PM, I. Vinogradov wrote:
>
>> while on the topic of IDEs, would it be possible to somehow adapt  
>> Xcode
>> to the task? It has Python keyword highlight, and PyObjC is one of  
>> the
>> possible types of documents.
>>
>> I have some vague notion that perhaps a pure python file template can
>> be made, that uses framework installation and all. Is something like
>> that even possible?
>
> Xcode isn't a very good IDE for anything but the languages it  
> supports natively.  It does not have public APIs to change that,  
> either.  If you use Xcode as an IDE, it won't be much more than a  
> glorified text editor with syntax highlighting.  I wish it was a  
> good idea to use Xcode, but they haven't built it in such a way  
> that allows third parties to add value.
>
> It makes a little sense with PyObjC because we've put together some  
> py2app integration with Xcode, but it's a really ugly hack and  
> doesn't work all that reliably because the custom build+run target  
> is for some crazy reason stored as a user setting rather than a  
> project setting.  It's also prone to break at any Xcode update  
> because it needs to read the undocumented Xcode project file format  
> in order to get the information it needs.
>
> If you're considering Xcode, you'd be better off with Eclipse for  
> Python development.  Eclipse is bigger, slower, and uglier -- but  
> at least it can provide more functionality than a text editor.
>
> -bob

		Well, I for one would welcome better XCode integration.

		I actually requested a new feature (4268839, "Integrated Python  
debugging.", 22-Sep-2005) and two enhancements (4268844, "Round- 
tripping for PyObjC/IB.", 22-Sep-2005 and 4268827, "ER: External  
targets should support build configurations",  22-Sep-2005) thru  
Apple's Bug Reporter.

		The other way around (just to be sure we can build them for non- 
Apple Python distributions), it would be nice to have an XCode  
project type "Python C++ extension".

		The main reason (good or not, this is another question), is that I  
want to use Apple's dev tools (including XCode) to develop in-house  
MAC software, using C++ (and Python, of course ;-)  ) as much as  
possible, and not touching ObjC even with a 10-foot pole.

		I usually do several iterations, each useful in its own right: full  
command-line C++ (to build the foundation and for other team  
members), Python with C++ extensions (so that said team members stay  
reasonably sane just a bit longer...), PyObjC+Python+C++ 'cause I  
personally want to use a Mac app with native GUI. Note: theory done  
with paper and pencil (and Maple in times of yore... before they  
switched to the unethical activation scheme), and prototyping done  
(usually) with MATLAB (we do need more and more easily accessible  
Python packages...).

		As far as XCode being essentially a glorified text editor, w.r.t.  
Python, in my case it isn't even that, as I use TextWrangler as an  
"external editor" :-)     .

	Merci

			Hubert Holin