[wxPython-dev] 2.8.7.0 coming soon

[Kevin Ollivier]

Hi Jean-Michael,

On Nov 16, 2007, at 8:00 AM, jmf wrote:

> Well, I toyed this morning with Editra. It's a good piece of software,
> but in my mind the real questions (some) are:
>
> - Does such a tool belong to "wxPython"?

Yes, I think so. Every developer needs a good text editor, and  
moreover, a good development tool is actually good advertising for the  
toolkit itself. One of the things I was most impressed by with Editra  
was the attention to detail and the simple and modern-looking UI. This  
not only makes it look like a nice IDE, it shows that wxPython can do  
these things, and I think that gives a good impression.

The other part I liked was the easy to understand documentation for  
writing plugins. IMHO, that is a critical component for a default tool  
- that it be easy to extend and build upon.

>
> - If yes, does it make sense to embed it in the runtime part of
> wxPython? The demo-doc stuff seems to be more appropriate. After all,
> this is "just an wxPython application", contrary to XRCed or pyShell  
> which
> are pure dedicated wxPython applications/tools.

I think this question was tackled by our discussion of how wxPython is  
broken down. i.e. We should have "runtime only" and "runtime + docs +  
demos + tools", and Editra definitely makes sense in the latter. To be  
honest, I would like to see some Editra components (like the auto- 
updater and the Error Reporter) turned into more general wxPython  
components, but that is for the future. ;-)

>
> - If it is part of wxPython, it is aimed to the Python users, why  
> does it
> not default to the Python language. On my win platform, just after  
> the launching
> I have : \n as newline, no Python lexer, after Python lexer  
> selection: no
> indentation and pressing the tab key introduces a \t char  
> corresponding to
> 8 spaces (!). GvR should not be very happy.

I think Editra is better categorized as a cross-platform project/file  
editor than a Python tool. For example, it can properly highlight HTML/ 
XML, text, diffs, InnoSetup/NSIS installer scripts, bash scripts, just  
about any kind of file you might need to produce in the process of  
developing a wx (Python | C++ | Perl | etc.) project. So if you are a  
wxWidgets (not wxPython) developer, then Editra would still be a great  
choice. Or even a wxPerl/wxLua/etc. developer. :-) To me, this is  
important, because most of us are bothered to some extent about how  
many wxPython editors that are out there. Well, now add the C++ ones,  
and the Perl ones, etc. to that list. The number is probably  
staggering. I think including a good text editor will reduce the  
amount of redundant effort.

So, maybe GvR would not be happy, but then again, we aren't proposing  
replacing IDLE, so I'm not sure he'd be that concerned. I would agree  
though that it'd be nice for tabs to equate to 4 spaces by default, if  
it doesn't already (mine says 4 but I may have changed it ;-). Some  
editors default to 8 but I always change them and I'm not sure where  
that default comes from, to be honest. Then again, I've never had a  
problem with using tabs either. (Though I effectively can't now since  
I work on a lot of shared code! ;-)

>
> - Should a wxPython newbee install it? There is a nsis installer!

Well, it will come with wxPython, so every wxPython newbie will  
install it. :-)

>
> Do not get me wrong. I'm just trying to think like a wxPython  
> beginner.

I think it's always good to discuss points like this. :-)

Thanks,

Kevin

>
> Jean-Michel Fauth, Switzerland
>
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