[Tutor] how I overcame the problem "I cannot run Python programs"

[Alan Gauld]

On 16/03/12 00:29, Mark Lawrence wrote:
>> I have notepad++ as well. Its great. But eclipse is better, especially
>> for learning. I can't describe how much it helped me.
>
> I believe that eclipse is crap.

No, it's not crap, it's one of the most powerful and extensible 
development tools available and used by thousands (millions?) of 
professional programmers worldwide. But...

 > I tried it 10 years ago and gave up because it was so slow.

It's written in Java and 10 years ago few PCs had the horsepower to run 
Java well, and the Java compilers/VM were less efficient too.

> I tried it a couple of months ago for two weeks and again gave up
 > for the same reasons.

Unless you are still using the same 10 year old PC it shouldn't have 
been that bad! I certainly don't find it any slower than most large apps 
these days.

> Why not stick with pythonwin, it's perfectly adequate for my needs?

For a beginner to python I tend to agree with you. Not because Eclipse 
is slow but because it's way over powered for the simple programs 
beginners write. If you want to develop a large application with 
dozens/hundreds of files and packages on Windows then Eclipse (or 
Netbeans etc) is a useful tool to have. And if you need to develop code 
in many different languages again, Eclipse will provide consistency. And 
if you need to build design models in UML you get a choice of top-end 
tools. But, for single-file programs Pythonwin and even IDLE are 
perfectly adequate.

-- 
Alan G
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.alan-g.me.uk/