My future Python IDE article

[smarter_than_you]

Another shout-out for Pythoncard.  It's at an early stage but I
_really_ like the design philosophy.  The code editor is nice (Boa
might have a slight advantage here, but it's definitely usable).  The
GUI constructor is the best I've seen, and I've been shopping for a
useful builder for a while.

Best of all, unlike Boa, the code it generates is clean and well laid
out, with a .rsrc.py file that is just a little list of dicts with
parameters for all your widgets.

YMMV


ny_r_marquez at yahoo.com (R.Marquez) wrote in message news:<8a27e309.0308270848.6ca4f8c2 at posting.google.com>...
> > 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