[Python-ideas] Should iPython Notebook replace Idle

[Gregory P. Smith]

On Sun, Jul 5, 2015 at 5:01 AM Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 5 July 2015 at 19:26, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> > Basically agreeing with what's been said already: IPython is an
> application
> > that has Python (and some other things) as a dependency. So is IDLE.
> Python
> > itself should ideally not be bundled with any applications -- it's a
> > historical accident that IDLE is in the stdlib. Of course there should
> be a
> > basic command prompt, but I think that the existing one based on GNU
> > readline is fine for that purpose.
>
> This does raise an interesting question though: should we perhaps
> update the "getting & installing" parts of
> https://docs.python.org/3/using/index.html to cover more of the
> available options?
>

I think we should.  The only reason anyone uses IDLE is that they found it
as one of the included batteries (sometimes referred to by tutorials) and
misinterpret that to think that it is good. It works, but it is mostly no
frills with some annoying limitations (see the bug tracker). I doubt you'll
find any core developers using IDLE to get work done.  [this is where
someone will pipe up and respond "hey!"]


>
> For users interested in Python for research and data analysis, for
> example, the SciPy page on installing Python would likely be a better
> starting point than our upstream guide:
> http://www.scipy.org/install.html
>
> Similarly, someone looking for a more sophisticated IDE than IDLE
> would do well to explore PyCharm, Komodo, Wingware, Visual Studio
> Community Edition, or one of the other options listed at
> https://wiki.python.org/moin/IntegratedDevelopmentEnvironments
>
> It may also be worth our while to update
> https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html and/or
> https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/interpreter.html to include a
> cross-reference to the usage guide for more detailed installation
> instructions (it took me a moment to remember where the platform
> specific installation guides were myself, so it wouldn't surprise me
> if someone reading the tutorial with no other context also had trouble
> finding them).
>

+1

-gps
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