3.2 Python Development Environments

The Python interpreter's built-in interactive mode is the simplest development environment for Python. It is a bit primitive, but it is lightweight, has a small footprint, and starts fast. Together with an appropriate text editor (as discussed later in this chapter) and line-editing and history facilities, it is a usable and popular development environment. However, there are a number of other development environments that you can also use.

3.2.1 IDLE

Python's Integrated DeveLopment Environment (IDLE) comes with the standard Python distribution. IDLE is a cross-platform, 100% pure Python application based on Tkinter (see Chapter 16). IDLE offers a Python shell, similar to interactive Python interpreter sessions but richer in functionality. It also includes a text editor optimized to edit Python source code, an integrated interactive debugger, and several specialized browsers/viewers.

3.2.2 Other Free Cross-Platform Python IDEs

IDLE is mature, stable, easy to use, and rich in functionality. Promising new Python IDEs that share IDLE's free and cross-platform nature are emerging. Red Hat's Source Navigator (http://sources.redhat.com/sourcenav/) supports many languages. It runs on Linux, Solaris, HPUX, and Windows. Boa Constructor (http://boa-constructor.sf.net/) is Python-only and still beta-level, but well worth trying out. Boa Constructor includes a GUI builder for the wxWindows cross-platform GUI toolkit.

3.2.3 Platform-Specific Free Python IDEs

Python is cross-platform, and this book focuses on cross-platform tools and components. However, Python also provides good platform-specific facilities, including IDEs, on many platforms it supports. For the Macintosh, MacPython includes an IDE (see http://www.python.org/doc/current/mac/mac.html). On Windows, ActivePython includes the PythonWin IDE. PythonWin is also available as a free add-on to the standard Python distribution for Windows, part of Mark Hammond's powerful win32all extensions (see http://starship.python.net/crew/mhammond).

3.2.4 Commercial Python IDEs

Several companies sell commercial Python IDEs, both cross-platform and platform-specific. You must pay for them if you use them for commercial development and, in most cases, even if you develop free software. However, they offer support contracts and rich arrays of tools. If you have funding for software tool purchases, it is worth looking at these in detail and trying out their free demos or evaluations. Most work on Linux and Windows.

Secret Labs (http://www.pythonware.com) offers a Python IDE called PythonWorks. It includes a GUI designer for Tkinter (covered in Chapter 16). Archaeopterix sells a Python IDE, Wing, notable for its powerful source-browsing and remote-debugging facilities (http://archaeopterix.com/wingide). theKompany sells a Python IDE, BlackAdder, that includes a GUI builder for the PyQt GUI toolkit (http://www.thekompany.com/products/blackadder).

ActiveState (http://www.activestate.com) has two Python IDE products. Komodo is built on top of Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org) and includes remote debugging capabilities. Visual Python is for Windows only, and lets you use Microsoft's multi-language Visual Studio .NET IDE for Python development.

3.2.5 Free Text Editors with Python Support

You can edit Python source code with any text editor, even simplistic ones such as notepad on Windows or ed on Linux. Powerful free editors also support Python, with extra features such as syntax-based colorization and automatic indentation. Cross-platform editors let you work in uniform ways on different platforms. Good programmers' text editors also let you run, from within the editor, tools of your choice on the source code you're editing.

Top of the league for sheer editing power is a classic, emacs (http://www.emacs.org, and http://www.python.org/emacs for Python-specific add-ons). However, emacs is not the easiest editor to use, nor is it lightweight. My personal favorite is another classic, vim (http://www.vim.org), the modern, improved version of the traditional Unix editor vi. vim is fast, lightweight, Python-programmable, and runs everywhere in both text-mode and GUI versions. vim, like vi, has a modal design, which lets you use normal keys for cursor movement and text changes when in command mode. Some love this as an ergonomic trait, minimizing finger travel. Others find it confusing and detest it. Newer editors challenge the classic ones. SciTE (http://www.scintilla.org) builds on the Scintilla programming language editor component. FTE (http://fte.sf.net) is also worth trying.

Other advanced free editors with Python syntax support are platform-specific. On Windows, try SynEdit (http://www.mkidesign.com/syneditinfo.html). On Unix-like systems, try Glimmer (http://glimmer.sf.net), and Cooledit (http://cooledit.sf.net), which also offers Python programmability, like vim, but without vim's modal architecture.