Thanks again for your responses, guys. To answer the question,the features I'd love to see in a Python IDE are:
* First and foremost, Vim editing behavior. Let me keep my fingers on the homerow. I'm lazy. Point and click and CTRL + SHIFT has its moments, but text editing is not one of them. * Graphical symbolic debugger: the course I'm auditing, Software Carpentry, by Greg Wilson of University of Toronto, devoted a whole lecture to debuggers. See http://www.third-bit.com/swc/www/debugging.html . So now I want to try this crazy thing. I love the idea of being able to watch the values of variables change in "realtime" as the program runs, from the convenience of a little side window. I also love the concept of not having to insert debugging code into the production code--just a click in the left column and you set the debugging command. Keep the production code clean by putting the debugging commands outside the program. * Source browser: the ability to jump back and forth between specific blocks of code very quickly, and to see the overall layout of the file in terms of classes, methods, functions, etc. I want the big picture in a side window to keep me on task and remind me of how far I've come when I start feeling bogged down in details. * Autocompletion: PythonWin by ActiveState has nice autocompletion. When I import a module, it can dive down into those namespaces and allow autocompletion on them. That's a nice, productive feature. * Usage tips/tooltips: Also something I found in PythonWin. During the writing of the method, a little tip box pops up advising me what the inputs are for a method or an instance construction for a class. Very nice, very productive. * Linux compatibility: Nothing against Microsoft, or Apple, I just like to use a Linux box more. It seems like the IDEs I've looked at have most of the features, but none do Vim. Crazy. I agree that you can do all your coding using just Vim. That's how I've been doing it. But following along with Greg Wilson's Software Carpentry has made me realize that I could be more productive using the additional, apparently now-standard tools of a good IDE. I just don't want to sacrifice productivity in in keystrokes. It just seems like a compromise programmers shouldn't have to make. the other Chris Chris Lambacher wrote: > I would second that. I use Vim for editing. I find I don't need an IDE (not > even for C/C++). Vim does everything I need. If I want a debugger I will use > the shell debugger. Most other things can be added to Vim, though I tend to > run with very few plugins. > > -Chris > > > On Tue, Oct 18, 2005 at 05:12:30PM +0000, Ron Adam wrote: > > What features are you looking for. I think most Vim users just add what > > they want to Vim. > > -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list