Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Python IDE: search no more!

I've always looked for a nice and modern IDE for Python. I used to do my hacking with BBEdit which is still my favourite text editor on Mac OS X but I looked for something a bit more sophisticated, with code completion and stuff. I initially gave a look at Eclipse with the PyDev plug-in but loading the IDE took forever (not to mention the amount of RAM and CPU consumed while working on it).

I finally found Komodo Edit which is the open source, slimmed down version of the Komodo IDE by ActiveState. I immediately liked it very much! It's not ultra fast and slim like a text editor but it's not even a hog for my machine. The only thing I really missed was a feature to see the list of functions in your code (which is included - of course - in the commercial version). Luckily there's a free plug-in called Source Tree which implements nicely this functionality.
Everything is free and runs smoothly. I haven't honestly tested for long but for my quick hacks is definitely a great thing.

Give a look to Komodo Edit at the Open Komodo site. 

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