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

Stephen J. Turnbull stephen at xemacs.org
Thu Mar 21 14🔞34 CET 2013

Paul Moore writes:

I have no figures one way or the other on that. You may well be right. Are we aiming at "all Windows users" here?

We need to be careful about this. ISTM that IDLE is aiming at the subset of users on any platform who for some reason need/want a simple development environment that is consistent across Python versions and platforms and immediately available when they install Python, but don't have one yet.

I think that there's been sufficient testimony to demonstrate that there are a fair number of folks in that boat. Educators (acting as proxies for a couple of orders of magnitude more students) are one identifiable group. Beginning Python users on Windows who don't use English in their daily lives and therefore need an environment that deals with the nightmare of "code pages" and "POSIX locales" are another.

My experience may well be atypical, I can't say.

I suppose it is reasonably typical. I'm sure everybody (by now, including Guido!) have many parts of the stdlib they just never need to use, nor does anybody around them. Most of us rarely to never want IDLE. That's not the point.

The "batteries included" slogan is inaccurate in the sense that everybody needs batteries or their toys won't run. The batteries that slogan refers to aren't for everyone, rather the hope is that there are enough different batteries in the kit that everyone can get started. They can always get Twisted later.

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