[Edu-sig] Python Editor / IDE for HS students

[Johannes Woolard]

> What are your experiences with editors / IDEs and Python?  I've used
> Eclipse with Java, how is the PyDev plugin?  Is there a good editor
> with method completion and collapsible codeblocks?
>

I personally use PyDev for all my Python work these days. [In my
opinion] It has excellent codeblock support, very good code completion
(as good as you would expect in the C/C++ world!) and excellent code
summary support (class/module browser).

I only have two gripes: Its memory usage - which you'll probably be
familiar with if you've used it with Java in the past, and the fact
that it is horribly slow for some tasks (startup...) under Linux.

I started using Eclipse mainly because of its excellent integration
with pdb. I would go so far as to say that for "ease of use" it beats
Visual Studio or any other commercial environment I've used.

> Flexibility is valuable, because they'll also be using this editor for
> XHTML / CSS but Python is the most demanding unit.

The "Eclipse Web Tools Platform" has a decent xml editor and html
validation - I'm not sure about CSS though.

I would certainly recommend PyDev - although it would probably need an
introduction for those students not familiar with an IDE.

...Just a couple of thoughts

Johannes

-- 
Johannes Woolard,
Entz Rep,
Oriel College, Oxford, UK

mobile: 07837880296