What I do want in an editor/IDE
6 AM
July 22, 2004
Hans lists some features that he does and doesn’t find useful in a Python IDE.
Here are four more features I’d like to see in a Python IDE:
- Manage import statements. When I move code around, the imports it uses should follow. Unused imports should be removed automagically.
- Find and run unit test suites at the press of a button.
- Quick sanity check tools. For example: for every self.x, check that x is defined as a function, as a class variable, in the init method or somewhere in a superclass.
- Support for common refactorings – turning expressions into variables and vice-versa, turning local variables into instance variables, moving a class between modules, and moving a module in the hierarchy.