IDLE Review

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Review of IDLE powered by the Slant community.

Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking

What are the best Python IDEs or editors for beginners?

What are the best free IDEs for Python?

What are the best Python IDEs or editors?

Pros

Pro
Sometimes simple is best

For short scripts, a heavyweight IDE just gets in the way. It's also easier for beginners to understand.

Pro
Written in pure Python/tkinter

You can dig in and change how it works.

Pro
Included in standard Python distributions

You probably already have it.

Pro
Debugger

It has one.

Cons

Con
No Tabbing for Files or Shell instances

Idle's Interactive Python Shell and the Python Text Editor are separate window applications. Many would expect them to be unified together within a single window. To create a python program file, or module, the user first opens Idle (It's Interactive Shell), then the user goes to [File] and [New File] to open the Idle Text Editor. Plus, every time a new python file is opened, a new instance of Idle runs separately. So, there are no tabbed modules. That's clumsy approach that adds the complexity of juggling around many Idle instances.