[wxPython-dev] 2.8.7.0 coming soon

[Cody Precord]

Hello,

On Nov 19, 2007, at 11:18 PM, Kevin Ollivier wrote:

> 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.
>
Changing the lexer does just that, change the lexer, nothing more  
nothing less. It does not set any formatting settings. The eol issue  
was actually a conscious choice from a time long ago when I was  
silently but actively protesting the surpurfulous use of control  
characters ;).   I have made the change to default to crlf on windows  
from now on however.

> 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! ;-)
>

Yes, Editra is and only aims to be a general purpose text/code  
editor, it does provide some autocompletion/calltips for python but  
outside of that all all Editra's  other features are equally  
supported across all (currently 56) other supported languages.

I also always changed the editors I used in the past to use soft tabs  
that equal 4 spaces regardless of the language I am working in  
(except makefiles where tabs are required) Editra also of course  
supports this configuration. Editra's default configuration uses tab  
characters that equate to 8 spaces because most people expect that  
the Tab key inserts a tab, and when looking around at numerous  
editors 8 seemed to be the most common default width for a tab. I  
wouldn't be too opposed to changing the default width to 4, but  
leaving the default to use \t is necessary to reduce confusion that  
can follow when a person that does not know about soft tabs uses the  
Tab key.

>>
>> - Should a wxPython newbee install it? There is a nsis installer!
>
> Well, it will come with wxPython, so every wxPython newbie will  
> install it. :-)
>
True.

I am however a little confused by the initial comment, is the '!' in  
protest or in affirmation?

If the former, what is wrong with an nsis installer? It is fairly  
standard on windows to click Next->Next->Finish is it not? This is  
how all software that I can remember installing on a windows machine  
in the past 10 years have been installed. It installs Editra and all  
of its requirements into "C:\\Program Files" by default (install path  
being fully configurable), adds start menu and desktop entries, and  
even provides a standard uninstaller that works through the Windows  
"Add and Remove Programs". If they can't install this I question how  
they would be able to install wxPython which from the installers  
usage point of view is installed in nearly an identical manner. If I  
am missing something here I am very interested to hear about 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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>

Regards,

Cody Precord