[Python-mode] Pymacs runs from python-mode

[François Pinard]

Andreas Röhler <andreas.roehler at online.de> writes:

>> Org mode brought me back to Emacs for many things, and one thing leading
>> to another, here I am, a possibly fresh, reborn python-mode.el user.

> Hi François, really good news!

Are you sure? ;-) I'll likely begin to ramble and moan about everything!
You might prefer me /silent/! :-)

>> * Pymacs installs a Python package [... rather than a single file ...]
>> * Pymacs is [...] now pre-processed [...]
>> * the Pymacs within python-mode.el trunk lags slightly [...]

> What about to maintain and release a one-file Python-mode and a full
> scale integrated project?

I'm not sure I understand your vision.  What would that be?  How could
we make things simple and dependable?

>> If Pymacs launches a pymacs-helper, and if Emacs launches an "inferior
>> Python shell", and M-x pdb its own as well, I presume that all these
>> Python processes do not inter-operate nicely [...]

That seems like a serious problem to me.  Regardless of Pymacs, I wonder
if (and hope that) pdb and an inferior Python share data and state.  It
seems to me that it might become fairly tedious otherwise.  I do not
know yet, I have to try and explore python-mode usage for real :-).

If Pymacs is merely used for completion because it is speedier (cannot
be *that* speedy anyway!), maybe that Pymacs tricks maybe repeated
without it?  That would yield a tighter integration between the
remaining Python processes, so python-mode stays more useful.

Currently, Pymacs starts its helper as a standalone Python program,
which is also quite disconnected from data and state of an inferior
Python or pdb interaction buffer.  Not much useful.

An idea, maybe!  I do not know how doable it would be: maybe Pymacs
should have some operational mode by which it starts a new thread in an
already existing program, and as such, opening a window into it.  It
surely cannot install itself on the main thread then, which is often
reserved for GUI interactions and such things.  Maybe threaded programs
want full control over their threads, and would squash Pymacs at the
first opportunity?  Maybe a Pymacs thread would mess program
termination?  Maybe this is a big can of worms, I do not know.

François

P.S. There are interesting and tempting problems in there, but I have so
little free time.  Sigh!