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

Terry Reedy tjreedy at udel.edu
Thu Mar 21 07🔞05 CET 2013

On 3/20/2013 8:38 PM, Neil Hodgson wrote:

Terry Reedy:

Broken (and quirky): it has an absurdly limited output buffer (under a thousand lines) The limit is actually 9999 lines.

I clicked Start / All programs / Python 3.3 / Python (command line)

help(str) (several times) and scrolled back up and the result was as I described. Help was gone above the 'c' methods. That is not 9999 lines.

I believe I later specified 'as installed'. But you are right. If one knows to right click on the blue and yellow Python snake, select Properties, Layout, and find Screen Buffer Size and Height, then one can increase the miserly default of 300 to 9999, at least on Win 7. 'Under a thousand lines' may be a vague memory from XP. I am also sure that with XP, the settings would revert for non-admin users after closing. Maybe MS did upgrade Command Prompt a bit.

Oh, but we are not done with the stupidity of Command Prompt. If one does set the buffer to 9999 lines, it pads the output to 9999 lines and shrinks the movable scroll bar down to an eighth inch. If you move it. say, 1/20 of the screen, you jump 500 lines, which initially is way past your actually output. The standard 'modern' convenience of dynamically resized buffers and bars, such as found in the nearly 20 year old Notepad, is not for CP. (There is an idea for MS: junk CP and re-build a modern version on top of Notepad.)

Setting properties by right clicking the icon is not standard on Windows. There is no help available from the window that I could find. I also could not find anything about the properties dialog in Windows help. If you can find an official entry for 'QuickEdit Mode' and 'Insert Mode', please let me know. Python Setup and Usage also says nothing about using the Command Prompt interpreter.

-- Terry Jan Reedy

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