I think that pyscripter is the most promising Python IDE around and I am exciting about its possibilities. However, I find a few issues with it annoying enough that I don't use it. They seem easily fixed in which case I think it would be superior to most IDEs. I am wondering if any users out there would like to add to/debate this list of benefits and issues (for reference I am using Pyscripter
Pyscripter Benefits: - very fast, stable GUI (compare this with Wing IDE which is horrendously slow) - screen lay it clean and uncluttered - source completion is lightning fast and I like the option to search files for selected modules - source completion searches submodules (as in "os.path.") - function search, etc. Pyscripter Issues: 1. smart tabbing: a. If I place the cursor anywhere in a, hitting the tab should properly indent the line to (most often) the unique correct place or (less often) to its best guess as to where to tab. Right now the editor inserts a tab, which I never want to do. a Smart tabbing for multiline expressions (eg expressions broken within parens) does not work well. 2. there is no source completion for local variables (or at least I cannot figure out how to use it). This is a major difference between it and Wing IDE. 3. source completion is easily fooled. If I type "os.path.join(fnam" and then backspace to "os.path.jo", the completion menu does not come back up. The same statement goes for the tooltips for functions. 4. lack of emacs key bindings as an option: yes you can add them, but adding shortcuts is very difficult due to the fact that key bindings are listed in both the IDE and Editor options section. 5. poor module handling in debugger mode/within the editor. I have not fully figured out what is going on, but a modules behavior during debugging or execution within the editor does not fully match behavior outside of it. E.g., when you run a module in debugger mode its behavior is not the same as if you run it from the command prompt. I think that the module is not loaded. To see this, create a module and type "print __file__" in some function. This will work from the command prompt but not from the module. If you add "from module-name import __file__" this solves it, but you should not have to do that. 6. No "Doc String" list. It would be nice if when you put the cursor over a function a window would display the full docstrings of the function. 7. The function tool tips (ie what you see when you hover over a function or open parens) are primitive looking and could show more of the functions docstrings. - poor module re-loading. If I import moduleA into moduleB and then change moduleA, when I debug, the change is not reloaded (as far as I can tell). This is aggravating. 8. lack of "IPython" like interface in the shell. Would be nice if emacs keybindings were available. 9. (would be nice) Refactoring capabilities (ala Eclipse's capabilities, especially for Python) 10. The web page http://pyscripter.googlepages.com/ has a much newer build than http://mmm-experts.com/Products.aspx?ProductId=4. I want to emphasize again that despite this lists length I think the core aspects of the system (speed and stability) are far and away better than anything else I have used. Thank you, Neil Chriss -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
