Considering moving from PowerBuilder to Python

[malv]

Norm Goertzen wrote:
> I've posted a previous question about IDEs and got some good feedback,
> thanks, but it does seem that everyone has their own favourite IDE -- in
> other words, no IDE was repeatedly recommended.
>
> So, is there any data on the popularity of IDEs (most users), or is
> there a chart comparing the most popular versions.
>
> I'M NOT AFRAID TO SPEND SOME MONEY TO GET THE RIGHT IDE (but I don't
> want to change products once I've chosen).
>
> Also, can I use Sybase's SQL Anywhere with Python?
>
> I'm really only interested in programming for Windows XP.  But I also
> really would like to find something very close to Sybase's patented
> datawindow technology -- it's a real time-saver.
>
> Finally, is there any (realistic) way to mix PowerBuilder and Python?
> For instance write a Python shell that calls PowerBuilder methods (or
> vice versa).
>
> Thanks again,
> Norm
Hi Norm,

I was kind of in your situation wherby I had to do a lot of python
programming under XP. This was in a major porting project to linux.
Although you have a choice of IDE's, a good one is very important. I
finally settled for eric3. This one is Qt based making use of PyQt
bindings (also SIP and Qscintilla). You have to realize that all IDE's
practically bind you to one framework or another.
I must say that being first rather gnome based, Qt turned out to be a
superb environment, both under XP as under linux. In fact going from
one to the other was absolutely effortless. You still will have to buy
a Qt3 license for windows. A Qt4 free version is now available for
windows, but I don't think that PyQt is ready for it.
As of late, I installed eric3 on linux Suse 9.3 and was happily
surprised to find out that I didn't have to bother with installing Qt,
PyQt, etc. It was all there. Qt3 also turned out to be great with
C/C++, which I'm not really using much, I admit.
They also have an SQL module, includinc Sybase drivers. I have been
using MySQL without Qt support using MySQLdb.