[Python-Dev] IDLE in the stdlib (original) (raw)

Steven D'Aprano steve at pearwood.info
Thu Mar 21 03:53:44 CET 2013

On 21/03/13 11:15, Terry Reedy wrote:

getting back to CP versus IDLE...

From IDLE:

print('\x80') € print('\xc8') È Impressed? You should be. Open Start menu / Python33 / Python (command line) and both of those result (modulo the specific character) in UnicodeEncodeError: 'charmap' codec can't encode character '\xc8' in position 0: character maps to

Terry, you have just done something I didn't think was possible: you've changed my personal opinion about IDLE. On the rare, rare occasions where I've had to use Python interactively on Windows, I use the standard python.exe command prompt, which I thought was easier than learning the (to me) quirks of IDLE's UI.

You've just given me a reason to use IDLE.

I also note that in the last few weeks, I've seen at least two instances that I recall of a beginner on the tutor at python.org mailing list being utterly confused by Python's Unicode handling because the Windows command prompt is unable to print Unicode strings.

Thanks Terry.

-- Steven

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