On 26/10/2016 20:24, Paul Moore wrote:
On 26 October 2016 at 18:25, Nick Coghlan <ncogh...@gmail.com> wrote:
The built-in REPL serves two quite divergent use cases, and I think
we're well past the point where we can't readily support both use
cases with a single implementation:
- a minimalist interactive environment, that is *always* present, even
if parts of the interpreter (most notably the import system) aren't
working or have been deliberately disabled
- a day-to-day working environment for Python developers
The prevalence of the latter use case then leads to it also being used
as a tool for introducing new developers to Python.
Thinking a little further about this, I think the reason I don't use
IPython more, is because my muscle memory types "python" (or more
often, "py") when I want an interactive prompt. And I do that for the
reason you mention - it's always there.
So I think that it would be really useful to be able to plug in a new
REPL, when it's available. This has a number of benefits:
1. We don't need to worry about incorporating any complex REPL code
into Python. The default REPL can remain simple.
2. Users can choose their preferred REPL, core Python doesn't have to
get involved in UI decisions.
The downside, of course, is that the default behaviour is inconsistent
- new users could attend a course where IPython was preinstalled, but
then struggle when back at the office because no-one told them how to
set it up.
I'll just say that on Windows 10 I have ConEmu installed, and I edit the
startup file to point me to umpteen different places where I want to
work. Ipython is one of them. Of course it is extremely difficult to
install. My understanding is that on Windows folk find it difficult to
type:-
pip install ipython
What have I missed?
--
Mark Lawrence
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