AGoodIDE

I have a PythonLanguage story which I'm a little bit shocked by.

I've always liked ScriptingLanguages. I like PerlLanguage a lot. Then last year I thought I'd get into Python, and was converted within an afternoon. There's no doubt this is a beautiful, easy and stress-free language. I've written several smallish programs in it over the last year.

However, in the last couple of months I've been writing a desktop app. (This was SdiDesk) in Windows. When I started, I looked at Python and VisualBasic. I started playing about in both environments. But somehow VB took off and suddenly, a couple of months later, I've found I've been happily writing the code in VB. I have days when I think about switching and re-writing, but basically I'm locked in.

I still think Python is a better language. It has far more good features than VB. My VB code is undoubtedly longer than the equivalent Python. The string processing is clunkier. And the lack of inheritance a big drawback.

And yet, somehow, in practice, it hasn't mattered. The code flows easily enough. The language's failings don't hold me up. I get round lack of inheritence using helpers and strategies. The string processing works out OK.

But I think the best explanation I ended up in VB is this : A good IDE counts for a hell of a lot. And the VB IDE has stuff I don't have in the Python IDEs I've tried.

Particularly, auto-completion of function names, and the prompting of the required arguments is a huge productivity boost. (Maybe because I have lousy short-term memory for such things.) The integration of the form-editor and the code behind the controls is still a lot better than, say, PythonCard. And, generally, it does feel more integrated. (ActiveState PythonWin for Windows does auto-complete and argument fill-in. –BillSeitz)

I'm sure decent Python IDEs exist, or are around the corner. And I hope I will be switching one day. But right now I'm kind of surprised I've been so happy in VB.