On Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 11:10 PM, Gonzalo Peña-Castellanos < [email protected]> wrote:
> Hi again users and devs :) > > Now looks is not everything and I wanted to also talk a bit a bit about > what defaults should we have on Spyder when starting fresh, some widgets > and also plugins > > *The template* > The template is what every noob will see the first time they start Spyder, > why not make the best we can to have the best but minimal template? > > - Include a def main (): > - Include the boilerplate (if __name__ == "__main__": main()) > - Include the basic scientific imports with their standard aliases > - (numpy as np, scipy as sp, matplotlib.pyplot as plt... > - shebang (# /usr/bin/env python) > > I would have from "__future__ import divison" (and maybe "print_statement"), a shebang (it helps on POSIX and doesn't hurt on windows, so always having it is good), and an encoding line and that is it. > *PEP8 * > I think we should enforce the use of pep8 right from the start. Some > people > first experience with Python is through Spyder, why not enforce pep8 right > from the beginning when people are more easily persuaded? > > Also on this line, why not make 'remove trailing spaces' also a default > > I think "remove trailing spaces only on lines I have edited" would be a better default, so as not to create problems with git, hg, and other vcs. > *Object inspector* > The automatic connections seem like a great idea why not make at least the > editor > a default? > > *Online Help* > I hate this plugin, it looks horrible, I would argue that it needs to go > to the trash! > > I would say that these can be combined and simplified. First, get rid of the "source". If the same name exists in the editor and console, show a dropdown to let the user pick. If the item is not found, show button in the "no results found" to search online. Also have a button to search online in the toolbar. Get rid of the "home" button, and don't show the "index of modules" thing at all. Have a "reload" button that changes to a "stop" button when reloading (the object inspector should have this anyway to refresh the documentation for the current item). Put the "lock" button inside the text entry field. > *Anaconda* > This might be a touchy subject for some, but I will go ahead anyway. > > Before conda and the anaconda distribution the chances of getting people > in my institute to switch > to a Python based stack were pretty low. After anaconda, that has > dramatically changed and I expect a full > conversion (from matlab and delphi... yuck!) by the end of 2015 :) > > I know there is winpython and python xy, and etc etc, but perhaps we > should enforce the use of anaconda > with a bit more enthusiasm. > > I completely disagree. First of all, I use Linux, not windows. Linux handles python just fine without the need for a separate python runtime. Further, all major Linux distros provide package managers out-of-the-box that are far better than conda, and my distro (openSUSE) and many others provide far more python packages than anaconda does. It seems most Linux distros provide spyder out-of-the-box, tying it to conda would eliminate that entirely, greatly increasing the barrier of entry to Linux users (which is a large portion of the technical computing user-base). Second, anaconda is far from perfect. For non-academic users it requires them to pay for an MKL license, while it is free for python xy. Python xy also provides far more packages out-of-the-box. Winpython makes it easier to set up portable python distributions. Anaconda certainly has its advantages, but it is not the perfect solution in all situations. Third, most of the benefits you listed, although they are benefits, wouldn't directly help spyder. The only benefit would be the package manager, which seems like a small benefit to throw away all other users. I personally use anaconda on windows and network computers where I can't update system packages, but on my main computers it would only cause me trouble. This means I cannot use any software with a hard dependency on conda. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "spyder" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/spyderlib. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
