[Tutor] idle??

Chris Warrick kwpolska at gmail.com
Sat Jan 9 05:38:53 EST 2016


On 8 January 2016 at 20:07, bruce <badouglas at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey guys/gals - list readers
>
> Recently came across someone here mentioning IDLE!! -- not knowing
> this. I hit google for a look.
>
> Is IDLE essentially an ide for doing py dev? I see there's a
> windows/linux (rpms) for it.
>
> I'm running py.. I normally do $$python to pop up the py env for quick
> tests.. and of course run my test scripts/apps from the cmdline via
> ./foo.py...
>
> So, where does IDLE fit into this....

IDLE is a sad little “IDE”, which is really ugly, because it’s written
in Tk. It lacks many IDE features. It comes with a really basic
debugger (that doesn’t even highlight the line that is being currently
executed…), function signature hinting, and some code completion.

And it doesn’t even do something as basic as line numbering.

Pretty much anything is better than IDLE. I recommend using vim with
the python-mode plugin and YouCompleteMe. The Atom editor can also be
a good Python environment. For fans of full-blown IDEs, there’s
PyCharm.

For experiments, IPython, Jupyter (aka IPython Notebook) or bpython
should be used. They are more capable than the basic interpreter, and
even have more features than IDLE.

-- 
Chris Warrick <https://chriswarrick.com/>
PGP: 5EAAEA16


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