[Python-Dev] Removing IDLE from the standard library (original) (raw)

Kurt B. Kaiser kbk at shore.net
Mon Jul 12 11:46:59 CEST 2010

On Mon, Jul 12 2010, Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven wrote:

-On [20100712 08:26], Stephen Hansen (apt.shansen at gmail.com) wrote:

But I, personally, would consider it a significant loss if IDLE went the way of the dodo or a third-party module.  Why would it be a significant loss if it went the way of a third party module? Clearly right now it's not being maintained as well as the rest of Python. Maybe that's a clear indicator that it's better maintained externally instead of in the main tree. And for what it is worth, I personally never used it beyond one time looking at it in disgust

Apparently you haven't looked recently. If you'd describe specifically what is disgusting on the current version, perhaps we can do something about it.

and neither do I know Pythonistas around me that use it. Bpython and ipython do get installed a lot though, even on Windows. And all these people, no matter their proficiency in programming, use an editor or IDE of some sort, but not IDLE.

Well, I use it :-) I used to use emacs to develop IDLE, but as IDLE became more capable, I stopped using emacs (except to fix IDLE when I break it completely :) When I find something I really miss, I add it. But I don't just add features to check off a list.

Search on the status bar and jump to definition are next.

So I would not mourn to see IDLE get moved out of the main repository as I do not see the added value or benefit, not even for training (and since you're going to set up a training environment anyway, it can only be described as lazy if you are adamant on having it included in the base distribution).

On Windows, IDLE opens when you right click / edit a .py. Very useful.

On linux, the packagers generally split IDLE off into a separate package so Python can be installed without Tcl/Tk. That doesn't mean it should be removed from the tarball; their package build tools build several packages from the single tarball at the same time. Second guessing them by having two tarballs just increases the work for everyone.

This could be done on Windows, but then you wouldn't have a GUI to use right after running the Python installer. Minimal installations are not so important on Windows.

-- KBK

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