[Pythonmac-SIG] Preferred IDE

[Henning.Ramm@mediapro-gmbh.de]

>I would appreciate any recommendations as to which IDE
>to use on OS X. I understand that the MacPythonIDE has
>ceased development, and was advised to ask which IDE
>people are now using.
>
>I'm after something fairly lite. A module browser,
>basic file management etc. are all that are required,
>plus any other must have features that I don't know
>about, as I'm just getting into Python.

You've a choice, and the *just right* Editor/IDE is something different
for anyone:


As we just sponsored him a Mac, Stani is working on SPE's Mac abilities,
so SPE is probably your best choice:
http://pythonide.stani.be/
(No real Mac app yet, but works; see Mac instructions)
SPE includes some other helpful tools (wxGlade and XRC GUI designer,
Kiki regex checker, Debugger)

There's also DrPython (nice lightweight and extendable, but in some
undefined state, esp. the important plugins):
http://drpython.sourceforge.net/
(No real Mac app)

A real Mac app (but I don't really like it) is PyOXIDE:
http://www.gandreas.com/products_developer.html

I never tried ActiveGrid IDE:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/activegrid/ 
(Mac binary only for full "Application Builder")

Eric (I don't like it, but others do...):
http://www.die-offenbachs.de/detlev/eric3.html

Commercial IDE Komodo by ActiveState (based on Mozilla XUL):
http://www.activestate.com/Products/Komodo/

Also commercial, but loved by some is Wing:
http://wingware.com/

It should be possible to use Xcode also for Python, but I never tried
it.

There are also some general Editors out there (not written in Python)
that support Python (and a lot more):
- TextWrangler (little brother of BBEdit)
http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/index.shtml
- jEdit http://www.jedit.org/

Indefinite overkill: Eclipse IDE (originally for Java, but with PyDev
plugin for Python):
http://www.eclipse.org
http://www.pydev.sourceforge.net 
(I found Eclipse to big & slow on my Mac.)

HTH

Greetlings, HR