IDLE history, Python IDE, and Interactive Python with Vim

[Ashot]

This is sort of both Python and Vim related (which is why I've posted to  
both newsgroups).

Python related:
----------------------
I have been frustrated for quite some time with a lack of a history  
command in IDLE (in fact with IDLE in general).  Often I'll develop new  
code at the command line, testing each line as I go.  Currently I have to  
copy and paste, removing outputs and the ">>>" at each line.
Is it perhaps possible to make some kind of hack to do this (dump a  
command history)?

Idle in general isn't that great IMO, so I was wondering also if there are  
better alternatives out there?  What do people use mostly?  I've tried  
something called pyCrust, but this too didn't have history and some other  
things I was looking for.  On a more general note, although the agility  
and simplicity of Python make programming tools like an IDE less  
necessary, it still seems that Python is lacking in this departement.  The  
PyDev plug-in for Eclipse seems like good step in this direction, although  
I haven't tried it yet.  Does anyone have any experience with this, or  
perhaps can point me to other tools.

Vim related:
----------------------
Ideally, it would be nice to have a command mapped to a keystroke that can  
append the last executed command to a file.  Even better would be a system  
that would integrate the file editing and interactive command line tool  
more seamlessly.  Something along the lines of a debugger + file editor  
+ command line utility, where file editor = vim.  I know that vim has a  
utility for running python commands from its command prompt, but I have  
had a hard time getting this to work in windows and haven't explored it.   
Has anyone seen/tried a system along these lines, perhaps incorporating  
the python debugger (pdb)?  I can see something that will run the file you  
are editing in vim up to the cursor or a mark with a set_trace at the line  
you are editing.


Any info is appreciated, thanks.

--
Ashot Petrosian
University of Texas at Austin, Computer Sciences