[Edu-sig] comments on Idle and Python

[Arnd Baecker]

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004, Arthur wrote:

[...]

> I would like to distribute PyGeo with an IDE. And about the only thing I
> require beyond IDLE's native facilities for the PyGeo IDE is the ability to
> add another level of syntax highlighting for the PyGeo specific API. The
> ability to customize in this fashion is a feature of most programmers
> editors, which is why we find Python syntax highlighting possible on most of
> the programmers editors out there.
>
> Not surprisingly, IDLE, under the covers, is designed with some modularity.
> And it looked to me by touching a few lines of existing IDLE code - whalaa -
> the ability to add domain specific color syntax highlighting was there.
>
> Which I then suggest on the IDLE-DEV mailing list.
>
> No response.
>
> Resend, pleading for a "no" if that is to be the response.
>
> No response.
>
> Private e-mail to the current lead developer.
>
> No response.
>
> Perhaps you have better luck.

I had similar experiences with the development of IDLE.

We wanted to use IDLE in a computational physics course,
however it was impossible
to have two idle instances on the same (Linux) machine
because of some socket stuff.
My post
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/idle-dev/2003-February/001663.html
recieved no response.

So IDLE was unusable for our course
(and, I just checked, with IDLE 1.0.4, Python 2.3.4
the problem is still there ...).

So now we are using happily ipython, http://ipython.scipy.org/
together with kate, or xemacs or vi(m),
as editor, whatever the student prefers.

Just my 2cents,

Arnd