Eric Python IDE Overview
Eric is a comprehensive, full-featured Integrated Development Environment (IDE) specifically designed for Python programming. Developed by Detlev Offenbach, Eric is written in Python and utilizes the PyQt Python bindings for the Qt GUI toolkit, making it a powerful and versatile tool for developers.
Primary Use and Compatibility
Eric is primarily used for developing software written in Python, supporting both Python 2 and Python 3. It is compatible with various combinations of Qt and PyQt versions (Qt 4/5 and PyQt 4/5) and is cross-platform, available on Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows.
Key Features
Editor and Coding Tools
- Flexible Editor: Eric integrates the highly flexible Scintilla editor control, offering features such as syntax highlighting, autocompletion, call tips, source code folding, brace matching, and error highlighting.
- Code Assistance: Includes code cleanup using PyLint, quick search, and code refactoring tools.
Debugging and Testing
- Integrated Debugger: A graphical Python debugger that supports interactive probing while suspended and auto-stopping on critical exceptions. It also supports debugging multi-threaded and multiprocessing applications.
- Profiling and Code Coverage: Built-in profiling and code coverage support to help optimize code performance.
Project Management
- Project Manager: Advanced project management facilities, including a self-updating To-do list and integrated task management.
- Version Control: Integrated support for Mercurial, Subversion, and Git repositories, ensuring seamless version control.
GUI Development
- Qt Designer Integration: Supports GUI development through the integration of Qt Designer, a graphical user interface builder for creating Qt-based GUIs.
Additional Tools and Features
- Documentation and Web Browser: Includes a built-in documentation viewer and web browser, enhancing the development experience.
- Unit Testing: Supports running Python code with command-line parameters and integrated unit testing.
- Interactive Python Shell: An interactive Python shell with syntax highlighting and autocompletion.
- Plug-in System: Allows easy extension of the IDE’s functionality with downloadable plug-ins, including support for Django, rope refactoring, and cx_freeze among others.
Collaboration and Other Features
- Cooperation Functions: Includes chat and shared editor features for collaborative work.
- Advanced Search: Provides advanced search functionality, including project-wide search and replace.
- Integrated Class Browser: A built-in class browser to navigate and understand code structures better.
Licensing and Distribution
Eric is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3 or later, making it free software. It can be downloaded from SourceForge or installed using the package manager of major Linux distributions. The source code is also available via a public Mercurial repository.
In summary, Eric Python IDE is a robust and feature-rich environment that caters to the needs of both novice and professional Python developers, offering a wide range of tools and functionalities to enhance productivity and code quality.