Python IDEs and the Interactive Shell

Several IDEs are available to help developers write their scripts and programs. Although many are cross-language, some are primarily written for working with Python. Two such examples of the latter are IDLE and SPE.

IDLE, short for Integrated DeveLopment Environment, is part of the basic Python distribution. It is coded in Python itself and uses the Tkinter toolkit to create its graphical interface. Don't let its barebones appearance fool you, however IDLE offers syntax highlighting, smart indents, a multiple-undo history, a partial debugger, call tips, and an interactive shell.

A very popular Python IDE is SPE, which stands for Stani's Python Editor. It's written in Python and uses wxPython as its interface toolkit. SPE offers more features than IDLE, including sticky notes, a regular expressions assistant, a UML viewer, and a class explorer window.

Other cross-language editors used for Python development include jEdit (a popular IDE written in Java), Eclipse, and Anjuta (both discussed in Chapter 28, "Using the GNU Compiler Collection and Other Programming Tools").

Calling python from a console with no command-line arguments will start Python's interactive shell, so you don't need to fire up a full-fledged IDE or even a text editor to test out your ideas in Python. You can enter statements at the shell prompt and it will immediately interpret them. Sending an EOF character (usually the Ctrl+D key combination) will exit the interactive shell.