Python education survey

[Lie Ryan]

On 12/28/2011 03:37 AM, Rick Johnson wrote:
> My logic is this:
>   """ Including an IDE in the stdlib may have been a bad idea (although
> i understand and support Guido's original vision for IDLE). But since
> we do have it, we need to either MAINTAIN the package or REMOVE it. We
> cannot just stick our heads in the sand and ignore the elephant in the
> chicken coop. It's bad enough to bloat ANY stdlib with seldom used
> modules, but i dare say, it's far worse to bloat a library with seldom
> used modules that are poorly maintained! Every module in Python's
> stdlib is a testament to the skill and professionalism of this
> community as a whole. When a module looks or works badly, we ALL look
> and work badly."""

AFAICS, Python has a pretty good reputation even outside Python 
community. I haven't seen anyone looks at Python badly because of IDLE.

> It's no big secret to anyone in this community that both Tkinter and
> IDLE are the red headed step children of Pythons stdlib. Very few
> people speak kindly of either package. I believe GvR still believes in
> the merits of both packages (psst: batteries included!) but he finds
> himself at odds with the elite at pydev. Hmm, Maybe he DOES want to
> remove them but fears loosing face...FYI: Guido IS is the original
> author of both Tkinter and IDLE... it was HIS idea after all. However,
> it is high time to re-ignite the original vision and form these
> packages into something we can be proud of -- OR -- cut our losses and
> remove them forever.

I hope you're not attempting to put words into his mouth, what you think 
of Guido's ideas is not necessarily Guido's ideas.

In any case, IDLE is open source -- I don't know exactly what license 
it's under but I'd assume it's the same as Python -- and anyone in this 
list and outside this list -- including you -- can freely fork it and 
work on it to improve it. In case you haven't realised it, it is pretty 
much impossible for a large open source project to "die"; even if Guido 
decided to remove IDLE from the standard library, it's not unlikely that 
someone will fork it and maintain it as a third party application.