Vim capable IDE?

[Chris Lasher]

Hello,
Is there a Python-sensitive, Linux compatible IDE out there with
standard bells and whistles (source browser, symbolic debugger, etc.)
but with the action-per-keystroke editing capabilities of Vim? I have
failed to turn up such an IDE in my Googling and IDE project-page
browsing. :-(

Thanks very much in advance,
Chris

 

[Dan Farina]

Hello,
Is there a Python-sensitive, Linux compatible IDE out there with
standard bells and whistles (source browser, symbolic debugger, etc.)
but with the action-per-keystroke editing capabilities of Vim? I have
failed to turn up such an IDE in my Googling and IDE project-page
browsing. :-(

Thanks very much in advance,
Chris

If you don't have religious feelings on Java (or are able to ignore them
for the time being) you could try Eclipse and pydev (see
pydev.sourceforge.net)

I use it. I think it works well.

df

 

[bruno modulix]

Hello,
Is there a Python-sensitive, Linux compatible IDE out there with
standard bells and whistles (source browser, symbolic debugger, etc.)
but with the action-per-keystroke editing capabilities of Vim? I have
failed to turn up such an IDE in my Googling and IDE project-page
browsing. :-(

What about a Python IDE that embed Vim as it's editor ?
http://pida.berlios.de/index.php/Main_Page

HTH

 

[Chris Lasher]

Thanks for your responses, guys. I can't get the PIDA page to come up
for me; server timeout error. I'll have to look into Eclipse more, but
I've been warned that it's resource greedy and that the VI plugin
doesn't provide very much functionality. Still, that's hearsay, so I'll
have to find out for myself.

I would have figured Vim or VI editing behavior would be a lot more
prevalent in IDEs but it seems to be quite rare. I don't understand
that, because a lot of people seem to use IDEs, and a lot of people
seem to use VI/Vim or Emacs. Is it the young guns that are tied to the
IDEs, never knowing powerful text-editors exist, and old dogs sticking
to their favorite editors, not giving in to all those "distracting"
bells and whistles of IDEs? What's the deal? A marriage of the two
would seem like the best of both worlds.

Chris

 

[Philippe C. Martin]

True and I had to give up emacs when I went to eclipse, but it was well
worth it.

I seem to recall that sourcenavigator allowed to configure an external
editor (or maybe was it sniff+ ?)

Regards,
Philippe

 

[Ron Adam]

Thanks for your responses, guys. I can't get the PIDA page to come up
for me; server timeout error. I'll have to look into Eclipse more, but
I've been warned that it's resource greedy and that the VI plugin
doesn't provide very much functionality. Still, that's hearsay, so I'll
have to find out for myself.

I would have figured Vim or VI editing behavior would be a lot more
prevalent in IDEs but it seems to be quite rare. I don't understand
that, because a lot of people seem to use IDEs, and a lot of people
seem to use VI/Vim or Emacs. Is it the young guns that are tied to the
IDEs, never knowing powerful text-editors exist, and old dogs sticking
to their favorite editors, not giving in to all those "distracting"
bells and whistles of IDEs? What's the deal? A marriage of the two
would seem like the best of both worlds.

Chris

What features are you looking for. I think most Vim users just add what
they want to Vim.

Here's what I use to launch a script and capture the output into a read
only panel. I think it may still needs a little fine tuning. This is
on windows, but it should work on linux with some minor changes.

Cheers,
Ron


Add this to your python.vim file in your ftplugin directory.

" Run a python script and get the output into a window.
set switchbuf=useopen
function! RunPython(rmode)
if a:rmode=='wnd'
" Run in python shell and capture the
" output to a vim buffer window.
execute "w!"
if bufnr("python_stdout") >0
exe "sb python_stdout"
else
exe 'split python_stdout'
endif
setlocal noswapfile
set buftype=nofile
setlocal modifiable
normal ggdG
silent! exe 'r!python #'
setlocal nomodified
set filetype=txt
normal 1G
elseif a:rmode=='ext'
" Execute script in python shell
execute "w!"
!start python -i %
else
" Open an interactive shell
!start python
endif
endfunction

" Add keymap to run and open console
map <F12> :call RunPython("wnd")<cr>
map <S-F12> :call RunPython("ext")<cr><cr>
map <c-F12> :call RunPython("psh")<cr><cr>
imap <F12> <C-\><C-N>:call RunPython("wnd")<cr>:star<cr>
imap <S-F12> <C-\><C-N>:call RunPython("ext")<cr><cr>:star<cr>
imap <c-F12> <C-\><C-N>:call RunPython("psh")<cr><cr>:star<cr>

 

[Chris Lambacher]

I would second that. I use Vim for editing. I find I don't need an IDE (not
even for C/C++). Vim does everything I need. If I want a debugger I will use
the shell debugger. Most other things can be added to Vim, though I tend to
run with very few plugins.

-Chris

 

[Chris Lasher]

Thanks again for your responses, guys. To answer the question,the
features I'd love to see in a Python IDE are:

* First and foremost, Vim editing behavior. Let me keep my fingers on
the homerow. I'm lazy. Point and click and CTRL + SHIFT has its
moments, but text editing is not one of them.

* Graphical symbolic debugger: the course I'm auditing, Software
Carpentry, by Greg Wilson of University of Toronto, devoted a whole
lecture to debuggers. See
http://www.third-bit.com/swc/www/debugging.html . So now I want to try
this crazy thing. I love the idea of being able to watch the values of
variables change in "realtime" as the program runs, from the
convenience of a little side window. I also love the concept of not
having to insert debugging code into the production code--just a click
in the left column and you set the debugging command. Keep the
production code clean by putting the debugging commands outside the
program.

* Source browser: the ability to jump back and forth between specific
blocks of code very quickly, and to see the overall layout of the file
in terms of classes, methods, functions, etc. I want the big picture in
a side window to keep me on task and remind me of how far I've come
when I start feeling bogged down in details.

* Autocompletion: PythonWin by ActiveState has nice autocompletion.
When I import a module, it can dive down into those namespaces and
allow autocompletion on them. That's a nice, productive feature.

* Usage tips/tooltips: Also something I found in PythonWin. During the
writing of the method, a little tip box pops up advising me what the
inputs are for a method or an instance construction for a class. Very
nice, very productive.

* Linux compatibility: Nothing against Microsoft, or Apple, I just like
to use a Linux box more.

It seems like the IDEs I've looked at have most of the features, but
none do Vim. Crazy.

I agree that you can do all your coding using just Vim. That's how I've
been doing it. But following along with Greg Wilson's Software
Carpentry has made me realize that I could be more productive using the
additional, apparently now-standard tools of a good IDE. I just don't
want to sacrifice productivity in in keystrokes. It just seems like a
compromise programmers shouldn't have to make.

the other Chris

 

[Chris Lambacher]

Most of this stuff can be done in Vim or Emacs. I only know the details for
Vim, see below. I don't know why people are insistant on claiming that Vim
and Emacs can't do these kinds of things. They are, it just may take a bit
more work to set up. The advantage to this extra work is that you can make it
work the way you want it to.

Both Emacs and Vim have powerful languages for defining extensions to them.
In the case of Vim you can use its own language or one of Python, Perl, Ruby,
Tcl (perhapse more?).

-Chris

Thanks again for your responses, guys. To answer the question,the
features I'd love to see in a Python IDE are:

* First and foremost, Vim editing behavior. Let me keep my fingers on
the homerow. I'm lazy. Point and click and CTRL + SHIFT has its
moments, but text editing is not one of them.

* Graphical symbolic debugger: the course I'm auditing, Software
Carpentry, by Greg Wilson of University of Toronto, devoted a whole
lecture to debuggers. See
http://www.third-bit.com/swc/www/debugging.html . So now I want to try
this crazy thing. I love the idea of being able to watch the values of
variables change in "realtime" as the program runs, from the
convenience of a little side window. I also love the concept of not
having to insert debugging code into the production code--just a click
in the left column and you set the debugging command. Keep the
production code clean by putting the debugging commands outside the
program.

There are several Debugger plugins for VIm:
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script_s..._by=rating&direction=descending&search=search

They may all be for GDB, but if you can do it for GDB, you can do it with VIm.
Also, since you can embed the python interpreter in VIm, you should be able to
have even tighter control on a python debugger than a GDB debugger.

* Source browser: the ability to jump back and forth between specific
blocks of code very quickly, and to see the overall layout of the file
in terms of classes, methods, functions, etc. I want the big picture in
a side window to keep me on task and remind me of how far I've come
when I start feeling bogged down in details.

There are a million and one plugins to do this, search on vim.org

* Autocompletion: PythonWin by ActiveState has nice autocompletion.
When I import a module, it can dive down into those namespaces and
allow autocompletion on them. That's a nice, productive feature.

Default part of VIm
:help ctags
:help completion

* Usage tips/tooltips: Also something I found in PythonWin. During the
writing of the method, a little tip box pops up advising me what the
inputs are for a method or an instance construction for a class. Very
nice, very productive.

VIm 7 may support that out of the box since there were a lot of supporter
votes for it:
http://www.vim.org/sponsor/vote_results.php

I think there are some plugins that will do this for you by updating the
status area.

 

[sjdevnull]

VIm 7 may support that out of the box since there were a lot of supporter
votes for it:
http://www.vim.org/sponsor/vote_results.php

It will, Omni Complete (akin to "Intellisense" and such) is already in
the Vim 7 tree.

 

[Chris Lasher]

Thanks for the replies, guys! I had no idea Vim was capable of doing
some of those things. The source browser in Vim is slick--I never would
have known about that. As far as the GDB goes, it doesn't look like it
has support for Python, but it's nice to know it's there for C if I get
the chance to learn that language. Where do you guys go to learn all
the capabilities of Vim? Just browsing through vim.org?

The PIDA site is back up and running. It looks like a real winner! I'll
have to download it and give it a whirl.

Thanks again,
Chris

 

[Micah Elliott]

Where do you guys go to learn all the capabilities of Vim? Just
browsing through vim.org?

Just type:
:h
to see extensive info from the "User Manual", "Reference Manual", and
any plugins.

The near-comprehensive doc list:
http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/
I don't see the "Reference Manual" there.

The User Manual in PDF (which I printed really small on 14 pages and
now carry in my backpack):
http://www.eandem.co.uk/mrw/vim/usr_doc/index.html

And the Vim Book (which I have only scanned):
http://www.truth.sk/vim/vimbook-OPL.pdf

 

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?Fran=E7ois?= Pinard]

[Chris Lasher]

Thanks for the replies, guys! I had no idea Vim was capable of doing
some of those things.

One detail which should be more widely known, in my opinion, is the
capability of Vim (if compiled properly) to use Python has an extension
language. That is, you may add new Vim commands to your liking
(presuming you know how to program), writing them in Python.