Avant-IDLE: an experiment

[Edit: this post has an embedded video, which is not visible for PlanetPython readers.]



This is a follow-up from a previous post where I showed just a screenshot made after one hacking session.  A week later, much has changed.

As noted at the end of the video, the code is not (yet) available in a public repository.  Among other things, I need to figure out what license I can use and if I can reuse all of the content from Python's version, or if I need to remove certain assets, etc.

Avant-IDLE makes use of two projects that I started recently and mentioned before on this blog:

Friendly-traceback (code, documentation) and AvantPy (code, documentation). AvantPy itself depends on Friendly-traceback.

Both Friendly-traceback and AvantPy welcome contributions.  Publishing this video about AvantPy is a way to bring more attention to these other two projects.

Going forward with Avant-IDLE

As for Avant-IDLE, if I can go forward with it:

• I would like to translate its menus.
• I would like to add syntax coloring for each individual dialect: this would likely mean some significant change from the way that syntax coloring is done in IDLE.
• I would like to have friendly tracebacks make use of color, like iPython does.
• I would like to add line numbers to the file editor.
• etc.

I might have to remove the debugger, as it makes little sense to have someone entering code in their native language and suddenly have to deal with standard Python since that is the code that is truly executed.  I think that, by the time someone is ready to use a debugger, they are definitely ready to use Python itself.

In an ideal world, save for the "dialect converter" demonstrated in the video, I would like for the rest of Avant-IDLE to be in a single window, with files in tabs and the interpreter below, like Al Sweigart described:

However, that last idea might be something simply too ambitious. After all, Al Sweigart, who is far more competent and productive than I am, never managed to get that project off the ground. The more the code base from Avant-IDLE diverges from that of IDLE itself, the more difficult it will become to incorporate code changes made by Python's core developers to improve IDLE.

Making the code public

Even if I figure out all I need to do to make Avant-IDLE public, I am somewhat hesitant in doing so.

There is no doubt in my mind that I can continue working and improving both Friendly-traceback and AvantPy.  I truly believe that Friendly-traceback could be very helpful for Python beginners.  It could be integrated in other beginner-friendly editors, like Mu or Thonny - two fantastic projects.

I think that AvantPy could be useful for beginners as well ... but I do admit that it is a bit quirky.

When it comes to Avant-IDLE itself, as the saying goes, I don't want to bite more than I can chew, and find out that I created something which I cannot maintain. I do realize my limitations: I am just a hobbyist with no formal training in programming and who likes to do quirky experiments in his spare time. Publishing code on Github and/or making it available at Pypi automatically raises people's expectations, and demands on one's time.

Still, if this video can inspire you to create something useful for beginners, it will have been worthwhile.  Even more so if it inspires you to contribute to either Friendly-traceback or AvantPy, ;-)

Comments?

If you have any constructive criticism, or suggestions to offer, please feel free to do so, either on this blog, or by email.