3.6 Other IDEs

Because IDLE is free, portable, and a standard part of Python, it's a nice first development tool to become familiar with if you want to use an IDE at all. Use IDLE for this book's exercises if you're just starting out. There are, however, a handful of alternative IDEs for Python developers, some of which are substantially more powerful and robust than IDLE. Among the most commonly used today are these four:

Komodo

A full-featured development environment GUI for Python (and other languages). Komodo includes standard syntax-coloring text editing, debugging, and so on. In addition, Komodo offers many advanced features that IDLE does not, including project files, source-control integration, regular expression debugging, and a drag-and-drop GUI builder which generates Python/Tkinter code to implement the GUIs you design interactively. Komodo is not free as we write this; it is available at http://www.activestate.com.

PythonWorks

Another full-featured development environment GUI. PythonWorks also has standard IDE tools, and provides a Python/Tkinter GUI builder that generates Python code. In addition, it supports unique features such as automatic code refactoring, for optimal maintenance and reuse. This is also a commercial product; see http://www.pythonware.com for details.

PythonWin

A free IDE that ships as part of ActiveState's ActivePython distribution (and may also be fetchable separately from http://www.python.org resources). PythonWin is a Windows-only IDE for Python; it is roughly like IDLE, with a handful of useful Windows-specific extensions added in. For instance, PythonWin has support for COM objects. It also adds basic user interface features beyond IDLE, such as object attribute list popups. Further, PythonWin serves as an example of using the Windows extension package's GUI library. See http://www.activestate.com.

Visual Python

ActiveState also sells a system called Visual Python, which is a plug-in that adds Python support to Microsoft's Visual Studio development environment. This is also a Windows-only solution, but is appealing to developers with a prior intellectual investment in Visual Studio. See ActiveState's web site for details.

There are roughly half a dozen other well-known IDEs that we are aware of (e.g., WingIDE, PythonCard), and more will probably appear over time. Rather than trying to document them all here, see the resources available at http://www.python.org, as well as the Vaults of Parnassus web site.