Autocompletion and Interactive Tables in a Python IDE

[Anthony]

Hi, I'm a FoxPro programmer, but I want to learn python before it's
too late. I do a lot of statistical programming, so I import SPSS
into python. In my opinion, the best features of Visual FoxPro 9.0
were:
a) Intellisense (tells you what classes/methods are available and what
variables go into a function)
b) Code Completion (guesses your code after four letters)
c) Data-Orientation; multiple data sessions can be open, data can be
viewed easily

Python's IDLE has only half of the first of these features. I did a
lot of searching and found the PyDev extensions for Eclipse's Python
IDE, and found that they've got Intellisense. I'm still missing b and
c, and am getting extremely frustrated programming so slowly..

So two questions:
Is there any package, gui, IDE, anything that will do FoxPro-style
code completion? If it works in Eclipse, even better..
I can't find a good screenshot, but here's a better description:
You type "BROW" and it pops up a window that says "BROWSE" ..at this
point if you hit enter it completes the word..

and

How can I view open SPSS data in one of the Python GUIs? Again,
Eclipse would be the preference.
Here's an example of how I'd like to browse the data:
http://www.vfpconversion.com/Article...t_figure02.tif
I don't want to have to switch back and forth between Python and SPSS
while I'm programming; I just want to stay in one of them..

What can I do? I feel extremely inefficient when I don't have these
three features..

Thanks in advance.

[s0suk3]

On Jul 23, 4:28 pm, Anthony <[e-mail]:

Hi, I'm a FoxPro programmer, but I want to learn python before it's
too late. I do a lot of statistical programming, so I import SPSS
into python. In my opinion, the best features of Visual FoxPro 9.0
were:
a) Intellisense (tells you what classes/methods are available and what
variables go into a function)
b) Code Completion (guesses your code after four letters)
c) Data-Orientation; multiple data sessions can be open, data can be
viewed easily

Python's IDLE has only half of the first of these features. I did a
lot of searching and found the PyDev extensions for Eclipse's Python
IDE, and found that they've got Intellisense. I'm still missing b and
c, and am getting extremely frustrated programming so slowly..

So two questions:
Is there any package, gui, IDE, anything that will do FoxPro-style
code completion? If it works in Eclipse, even better..
I can't find a good screenshot, but here's a better description:
You type "BROW" and it pops up a window that says "BROWSE" ..at this
point if you hit enter it completes the word..

and

How can I view open SPSS data in one of the Python GUIs? Again,
Eclipse would be the preference.
Here's an example of how I'd like to browse the data:http://www.vfpconversion.com/Article...0209071&Image=...
I don't want to have to switch back and forth between Python and SPSS
while I'm programming; I just want to stay in one of them..

What can I do? I feel extremely inefficient when I don't have these
three features..

You're looking at it the wrong way. A programming language's strength
is not the availability if IDEs that exist for it. It might be a bit
convenient, depending on the circumstances, but it is, by no means,
what makes a language a good language, because it's actually not a
property of the language itself. And if you're new to any programming
language in particular, that's actually the lesser of the things you
should be worrying about.

However, when you become more experienced and need to be more
productive, that might be problem. It's a shame that there aren't as
much IDEs for Python as there are for, e.g., Java or C++. I usually
use Komodo. Then there's the one you mentioned, Eclipse. You'll
probably get more replies mentioning a lot of others, but what I think
I should point out is that you seem to be overrating the importance of
it.

Sebastian

[Aspersieman]

Anthony wrote:

Hi, I'm a FoxPro programmer, but I want to learn python before it's
too late. I do a lot of statistical programming, so I import SPSS
into python. In my opinion, the best features of Visual FoxPro 9.0
were:
a) Intellisense (tells you what classes/methods are available and what
variables go into a function)
b) Code Completion (guesses your code after four letters)
c) Data-Orientation; multiple data sessions can be open, data can be
viewed easily

Python's IDLE has only half of the first of these features. I did a
lot of searching and found the PyDev extensions for Eclipse's Python
IDE, and found that they've got Intellisense. I'm still missing b and
c, and am getting extremely frustrated programming so slowly..

So two questions:
Is there any package, gui, IDE, anything that will do FoxPro-style
code completion? If it works in Eclipse, even better..
I can't find a good screenshot, but here's a better description:
You type "BROW" and it pops up a window that says "BROWSE" ..at this
point if you hit enter it completes the word..

and

How can I view open SPSS data in one of the Python GUIs? Again,
Eclipse would be the preference.
Here's an example of how I'd like to browse the data:
http://www.vfpconversion.com/Article...t_figure02.tif
I don't want to have to switch back and forth between Python and SPSS
while I'm programming; I just want to stay in one of them..

What can I do? I feel extremely inefficient when I don't have these
three features..

Thanks in advance.
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

You might want to try vim. It has a steep learning curve, but definitely
increases productivity _alot_.

Here is a tutorial on setting up vim with :
1) Code completion (intellisense) - including tooltips (!!!)
2) Jump between your python code and the python class libraries.
3) Syntax checking
4) A handy source browser
5) Debugging (using pdb)
6) [All the other vim goodies - already included]
Above instructions available here
http://blog.sontek.net/2008/05/11/py...dular-ide-vim/

I have been using the above setup for a while and find it superior to
_any_ IDE I've ever worked with.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'Data-Orientation' but I'm sure there's a
suitable alternative/replacement for it in vim.

Regards

Nicolaas

--

The three things to remember about Llamas:
1) They are harmless
2) They are deadly
3) They are made of lava, and thus nice to cuddle.

[arsyed]

On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 5:28 PM, Anthony <aj******@gmail.comwrote:

Hi, I'm a FoxPro programmer, but I want to learn python before it's
too late. I do a lot of statistical programming, so I import SPSS
into python. In my opinion, the best features of Visual FoxPro 9.0
were:
a) Intellisense (tells you what classes/methods are available and what
variables go into a function)
b) Code Completion (guesses your code after four letters)
c) Data-Orientation; multiple data sessions can be open, data can be
viewed easily

Python's IDLE has only half of the first of these features. I did a
lot of searching and found the PyDev extensions for Eclipse's Python
IDE, and found that they've got Intellisense. I'm still missing b and
c, and am getting extremely frustrated programming so slowly..

So two questions:
Is there any package, gui, IDE, anything that will do FoxPro-style
code completion? If it works in Eclipse, even better..
I can't find a good screenshot, but here's a better description:
You type "BROW" and it pops up a window that says "BROWSE" ..at this
point if you hit enter it completes the word..

and

How can I view open SPSS data in one of the Python GUIs? Again,
Eclipse would be the preference.
Here's an example of how I'd like to browse the data:
http://www.vfpconversion.com/Article...t_figure02.tif
I don't want to have to switch back and forth between Python and SPSS
while I'm programming; I just want to stay in one of them..

What can I do? I feel extremely inefficient when I don't have these
three features..

I don't know of any python IDE that provides the data orientation
feature, but there may be an Eclipse plugin for that sort of thing.

Otherwise, if you're on windows, check out PyScripter, which is free:

http://mmm-experts.com/Products.aspx?ProductId=4

and WingIDE which is quite nice and cross-platform (not free, though):

http://www.wingware.com/

I use Vim, which is worth learning IMHO, but somewhat difficult to get
started with especially if you're coming from FoxPro.

[arsyed]

On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 5:28 PM, Anthony <aj******@gmail.comwrote:

Hi, I'm a FoxPro programmer, but I want to learn python before it's
too late. I do a lot of statistical programming, so I import SPSS
into python. In my opinion, the best features of Visual FoxPro 9.0
were:
a) Intellisense (tells you what classes/methods are available and what
variables go into a function)
b) Code Completion (guesses your code after four letters)
c) Data-Orientation; multiple data sessions can be open, data can be
viewed easily

Python's IDLE has only half of the first of these features. I did a
lot of searching and found the PyDev extensions for Eclipse's Python
IDE, and found that they've got Intellisense. I'm still missing b and
c, and am getting extremely frustrated programming so slowly..

So two questions:
Is there any package, gui, IDE, anything that will do FoxPro-style
code completion? If it works in Eclipse, even better..
I can't find a good screenshot, but here's a better description:
You type "BROW" and it pops up a window that says "BROWSE" ..at this
point if you hit enter it completes the word..

and

How can I view open SPSS data in one of the Python GUIs? Again,
Eclipse would be the preference.
Here's an example of how I'd like to browse the data:
http://www.vfpconversion.com/Article...t_figure02.tif
I don't want to have to switch back and forth between Python and SPSS
while I'm programming; I just want to stay in one of them..

What can I do? I feel extremely inefficient when I don't have these
three features..

BTW, if you're developing for windows, you may also want to check out
IronPython which plugs into the Visual Studio framework, I believe:

http://www.codeplex.com/IronPython
http://www.codeplex.com/IronPythonStudio

[Anthony]

FoxPro is data-oriented, which means that at any time you have any
number of data sets open in the workspace and browse them immediately
by running one line of code in the command window. It's a really
important feature in terms of efficiency; I don't want to have to move
back and forth between SPSS and an IDE when I'm figuring out what code
to write, that takes six keystrokes for what FoxPro can do in one.
Again, here's what the BROWSE command presents:

http://www.vfpconversion.com/Article...t_figure02.tif
Does VIM have the capability to keep data open? -- Do any of these
IDEs have this browse capability??

On Jul 24, 4:10*am, Aspersieman <[e-mail]:

Anthony wrote:

Hi, I'm a FoxPro programmer, but I want to learn python before it's
too late. *I do a lot of statistical programming, so I import SPSS
into python. *In my opinion, the best features of Visual FoxPro 9.0
were:
a) Intellisense (tells you what classes/methods are available and what
variables go into a function)
b) Code Completion (guesses your code after four letters)
c) Data-Orientation; multiple data sessions can be open, data can be
viewed easily

Python's IDLE has only half of the first of these features. *I did a
lot of searching and found the PyDev extensions for Eclipse's Python
IDE, and found that they've got Intellisense. *I'm still missing b and
c, and am getting extremely frustrated programming so slowly..

So two questions:
Is there any package, gui, IDE, anything that will do FoxPro-style
code completion? *If it works in Eclipse, even better..
I can't find a good screenshot, but here's a better description:
You type "BROW" and it pops up a window that says "BROWSE" ..at this
point if you hit enter it completes the word..

and

How can I view open SPSS data in one of the Python GUIs? *Again,
Eclipse would be the preference.
Here's an example of how I'd like to browse the data:
http://www.vfpconversion.com/Article...0209071&Image=...
I don't want to have to switch back and forth between Python and SPSS
while I'm programming; I just want to stay in one of them..

What can I do? *I feel extremely inefficient when I don't have these
three features..

Thanks in advance.
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

You might want to try vim. It has a steep learning curve, but definitely
increases productivity _alot_.

Here is a tutorial on setting up vim with :
* * 1) Code completion (intellisense) - including tooltips (!!!)
* * 2) Jump between your python code and the python class libraries.
* * 3) Syntax checking
* * 4) A handy source browser
* * 5) Debugging (using pdb)
* * 6) [All the other vim goodies - already included]
Above instructions available herehttp://blog.sontek.net/2008/05/11/python-with-a-modular-ide-vim/

I have been using the above setup for a while and find it superior to
_any_ IDE I've ever worked with.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'Data-Orientation' but I'm sure there's a
suitable alternative/replacement for it in vim.

Regards

Nicolaas

--

The three things to remember about Llamas:
1) They are harmless
2) They are deadly
3) They are made of lava, and thus nice to cuddle.

[Aspersieman]

>
On Jul 24, 4:10 am, Aspersieman <[e-mail]:

>Anthony wrote:

>>Hi, I'm a FoxPro programmer, but I want to learn python before it's
too late. I do a lot of statistical programming, so I import SPSS
into python. In my opinion, the best features of Visual FoxPro 9.0
were:
a) Intellisense (tells you what classes/methods are available and what
variables go into a function)
b) Code Completion (guesses your code after four letters)
c) Data-Orientation; multiple data sessions can be open, data can be
viewed easily

Python's IDLE has only half of the first of these features. I did a
lot of searching and found the PyDev extensions for Eclipse's Python
IDE, and found that they've got Intellisense. I'm still missing b and
c, and am getting extremely frustrated programming so slowly..

So two questions:
Is there any package, gui, IDE, anything that will do FoxPro-style
code completion? If it works in Eclipse, even better..
I can't find a good screenshot, but here's a better description:
You type "BROW" and it pops up a window that says "BROWSE" ..at this
point if you hit enter it completes the word..

and

How can I view open SPSS data in one of the Python GUIs? Again,
Eclipse would be the preference.
Here's an example of how I'd like to browse the data:
http://www.vfpconversion.com/Article...0209071&Image=...
I don't want to have to switch back and forth between Python and SPSS
while I'm programming; I just want to stay in one of them..

What can I do? I feel extremely inefficient when I don't have these
three features..

Thanks in advance.
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

You might want to try vim. It has a steep learning curve, but definitely
increases productivity _alot_.

Here is a tutorial on setting up vim with :
1) Code completion (intellisense) - including tooltips (!!!)
2) Jump between your python code and the python class libraries.
3) Syntax checking
4) A handy source browser
5) Debugging (using pdb)
6) [All the other vim goodies - already included]
Above instructions available herehttp://blog.sontek.net/2008/05/11/python-with-a-modular-ide-vim/

I have been using the above setup for a while and find it superior to
_any_ IDE I've ever worked with.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'Data-Orientation' but I'm sure there's a
suitable alternative/replacement for it in vim.

Regards

Nicolaas

--

Anthony wrote:

FoxPro is data-oriented, which means that at any time you have any
number of data sets open in the workspace and browse them immediately
by running one line of code in the command window. It's a really
important feature in terms of efficiency; I don't want to have to move
back and forth between SPSS and an IDE when I'm figuring out what code
to write, that takes six keystrokes for what FoxPro can do in one.
Again, here's what the BROWSE command presents:

http://www.vfpconversion.com/Article...t_figure02.tif
Does VIM have the capability to keep data open? -- Do any of these
IDEs have this browse capability??

I see what you mean by 'Data Oriented', however I'm not aware of such a
'data set' persistence functionality in vim. You can set up a similar
(to FoxPro) environment using DBExt [1] plugin in vim and by using its
(vims') built-in session functionality. To set up dbext for FoxPro in
vim you might need to use ODBC but it should be quite straight forward
provided you read the help.

I work on SQL Server (using python and vim) and frequently have many
queries result sets open that I'm busy with. When I have to go, all I do
is save my session in vim. When I return the next day, I open the
session, and it there I have all the queries (not the data sets they
return (however you can save that too)) and scripts etc, I was working
on. To execute a query (even one embedded in some python code) I merely
select the lines the query is on and type the key-mapping (I set up) to
execute the query (3 key strokes) and I can view the result set in a
split window below the current one.

The aforementioned vim setup for python [2] and the DBExt plugin for vim
give me all the functionality I need to develop python and/or database
applications/scripts in one editor (IDE?). Also, there are so many other
useful plugins [3] for vim I have no need of any other IDE (I've
replaced Visual Studio .Net with vim as my IDE for Asp.Net
applications). I'm sure that vim can meet all the required features you
wanted initially.

[1] http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=356
[2] here it is again :
http://blog.sontek.net/2008/05/11/py...dular-ide-vim/
[3] http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1318 and
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=910 and
http://vim.sourceforge.net/scripts/s...p?script_id=69 and
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1658

Hope this helps :)

Regards

Nicolaas

--

The three things to remember about Llamas:
1) They are harmless
2) They are deadly
3) They are made of lava, and thus nice to cuddle.

[Colin J. Williams]

Anthony wrote:

Hi, I'm a FoxPro programmer, but I want to learn python before it's
too late. I do a lot of statistical programming, so I import SPSS
into python. In my opinion, the best features of Visual FoxPro 9.0
were:
a) Intellisense (tells you what classes/methods are available and what
variables go into a function)
b) Code Completion (guesses your code after four letters)
c) Data-Orientation; multiple data sessions can be open, data can be
viewed easily

For Windows users, PyScripter provides
a) and b). I don't understand what
you are seeking with c).

Colin W.