[SciPy-user] Pros and Cons of Python verses other array environments

[Fernando Perez]

On 9/28/06, Bill Baxter <wbaxter at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey Fernando.   I actually broke down and started using ipython
> instead of pyCrust recently, despite my dislike for being stuck in the
> lame Windows console.  It is a great shell, (love the ? and "func arg"
> --> "func(arg)" features).  Just sad that it's locked into text mode.
> Hopefully the ipython1 project will keep moving along so we can have
> ipython in a GUI before long.

It's moving along...

> As for its debug console ability, I wasn't aware of that.  I knew you
> could have it trigger the debugger at a breakpoint, but then you drop
> into a prompt with debugger syntax rather than normal python syntax,
> right?  So you have to prefix every command with something.  Is there
> some other mode that I'm not aware of that gives you a regular
> console?

Well, the ipdb console is a primitive python console, but any
single-line expression which is valid python will be directly
evaluated.  In addition, it has a few extra commands (type help to see
them).  I happen to find it quite satisfactory for most of my needs,
but I'm sure better could be done.

> No gui also means setting breakpoints by line number or function name, no?

Yes, that's certainly true.  pdb is fairly gdb-like in that respect.

I'm certainly /not/ claiming ipython to be an IDE, simply that it does
have some useful features.  For a certain class of users, probably
those who prefer the emacs/vi/favorite editor + terminal combination
to an IDE, it seems to do the trick quite nicely.  And yes, things are
moving along to make sure that it's even better in the future, with
GUI integration, notebook-type environments and lots more.  It's
slowly but surely coming together.

Cheers,


f