[Tutor] Best Python Editor

[Emile van Sebille]

On 6/14/2009 8:04 AM Alan Gauld said...
> "Tom Green" <xchimeras at gmail.com> wrote
> 
>> Since VIM seems to be the editor of choice and I have been programming in
>> Python for many years using Pyscripter and Eclipse I was wondering how I
>> could transition away from the IDE world to VIM.
> 
> With great difficulty and to be honest I wouyldn't bother.
> If you are used to eclipse then there is little to be gained from moving 
> to vim.

Seconded.  Editors are a personal choice and often the loss of 
productivity while learning a new environment isn't worth it.  My 
introduction to coding Turbo Pascal was eased owing to the WordStar 
compatible/modeled editor it used.  Nowadays, any editor with 
configurable syntax capability is sufficient.  It's all personal 
preference after that.

<snip>

> Some of this might just be what we are used to too. Remember that
> IDEs as such didn't really come into existence till about 12-15 years
> ago. Those of us who have notched up more than 2 or 3 decades of
> coding have probably just not got used to the new concepts yet!

Full screen editing with WordStar spoiled me after having only the 
primitive form of edlin I'd been working with.  vi on the *nix boxen was 
(and still is) a necessary tool because it was/is available everywhere, 
but I never quite got it and only cautiously use it when I do. 
Somewhere along the line I heard that "vi has two modes -- one that 
beeps at you; and another that destroys your file."  Since then I've had 
fewer problems with it.  :)

My editor for the past ten years or so has been TextPad on windows with 
a variety of syntax plugins. (php,perl,python,pro5,postscript)

Emile