[Python-ideas] Accessible tools

[Nikolaus Rath]

On Feb 19 2015, Bryan Duarte <bryan0731-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Honestly I live in VIM in my terminal. I use VIM for everything and
> even have integrated a VIM plugin to my Eclipse IDE. The commands are
> easy, and customizable. VI and VIM were built off of "ed" which was
> the first line editor available on the Unix OS. For this fact it has
> great integration with the terminal and system utilities. I can write
> code, compile code, call in external files, save off versions, execute
> code, without ever living my terminal window. The question is not
> really if I can read, write, or access the code it is mostly about
> getting the assistance of the IDE when it comes to "auto complete",
> and whatever the name is for Python for "intellisense". I know there
> is the interpreter for quick references and tests but why should I
> have to use two programs to do what my sighted peers do in one? This
> is not a direct question this is just the problem I am exploring. Is
> there a tool out there that can do this for someone who developers
> with the assistance of a screen reader or is it something to be
> developed still?

Emacs with jedi and auto-complete.el offers you that.

However, you need to keep in mind that auto-complete for a dynamic
language is very difficult. Suppose you have a function defined as
'def foo(bar): ...' - how is your editor supposed to know what the 'bar'
parameter is? It therefore needs to scan your entire codebase for calls
to foo(), and then backtrack to try to deduce what *bar* might be. This
sometimes works, and sometimes it doesn't. Therefore, auto completion
for Python is typically much less useful than it is for other languages
(and you might be disappointed by it).

Best,
-Nikolaus

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