My future Python IDE article

[R.Marquez]

> So c.l.py readers... make the case for your favorite one getting on the
> list.  I have a while to ponder the opinions advanced, should this
> prompt some discussion (it may take a little while to order review
> copies of commercial tools and/or get things installed).

I work on Windows mostly, and Pythonwin has been great for a few
years, although it doesn't have any GUI building facilities.  Lately,
due to a bug in the last release (which I have already submitted), I
have taken the opportunity to give others a try.  I am not currently
interested in paying for an IDE.

I tried BOA a little while ago.  My first impression was "wow, someone
has done a lot of work here".  However, I didn't like the fact that I
had to mold my code to the way the application wants it.  For example,
I have to always have a "main" function.  Maybe that is a good
practice, but being forced to it didn't give me a good feeling.  The
code it generated for the GUI was a bit verbose and it... I don't
know. It just didn't seem to simplify things for me too much.  I
probably should go back and give it another try one of these days.

Idle is nice enough, although like Pythonwin, it doesn't have any GUI
building facilities. Surprisingly for me, I couldn't find some basic
features for simple code editing that I really like.  For example, I
couldn't find a way to have white space visible.  It also doesn't seem
to have an indentation guide feature, which I find very useful in
Pythonwin (this feature seems to me to be a must for a Python code
editor since indentation is so crucial in it).  Also, I could not see
how to display line numbers (although it does have a "Go to line"
feature).

I was surprised to find all of these features as well as most other
features that I expected for basic code editing on the PythonCard
prototype Code Editor.  And, PythonCard is an actual Application
builder, with outstanding GUI building facilities and all.  I think
that PythonCard has the potential to be the best IDE/App Builder for
Python.  It uses wxPython as its foundation, which I think is most GUI
developers favorite *free* toolkit.  Unfortunately, a lot of the
wxPython widgets have yet to be integrated.  However, it is already
usable for simple GUI applications.  So, if you haven't given a try I
would encourage you to do so.  You may just see what I mean.

I still like Pythonwin as my favorite Code Editor in Windows.  But,
until my little bug is fixed I think I am sticking with PythonCard's
Code Editor.

-Ruben