Author: | Ali Afshar |
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Contact: | aafshar@gmail.com |
PIDA is an integrated development environment for all types of development. It is written in Python using the PyGTK Toolkit.
PIDA is different from other IDEs. Rather than attempting to write a set of development tools of its own, PIDA uses tools that the developer has available. In this regards PIDA is a framework for assembling a bespoke IDE. PIDA allows you to choose the editor you wish to use (yes, Vim out of the box works).
Although still a young application, pIDA can already boast a huge number of features because of the power of some of the tools it integrates. For example features such as code completion and syntax highlighting are well implemented in PIDA's integrated editors far better than any editor built for a commercial IDE.
Additionally PIDA insists on stealing excellent ideas from applications it cannot embed. For example the Rapid Application Development in the style of Microsoft's development products is achieved by the combination of Gazpacho (a user interface designer) and Tepache_ (a code sketcher), via the text editor.
PIDA is released under the MIT_ license. This is not a particularly philosophical decision, except that the PIDA developers consider it a good thing that PIDA is not GPL, or even closed source.
The PIDA Project is owned by Ali Afshar (this author).
Stephen Holmes - A consistent and competent source of pain and suffering.
Your requirements will largely depend on what you want to do with PIDA.
If you can get PIDA from your distribution, this is best. Otherwise you will need to download the source tarball. Unpack the tarball, and in the top-level directory, issue the command (you may require super user access on your computer for a system install):
python setup.py install
PIDA will now be installed in your default python location, and be available to all users of the system.
Note
If you do not wish to install PIDA, it can be run from the local directory. (See Running pida without installing)
If PIDA has been installed, simply issue the command:
pida
If correctly installed, PIDA will start.
The develop.sh script in the top-level source directory can be used to run PIDA without installing system-wide. To execute it, issue the command:
./develop.sh
The script generates a PIDA egg in a temporary directory for the duration of the session.
PIDA is very varied in its features and what you may want to do with it might not be what someone else might want to do with it (this is fine). In order to familiarise yourself with PIDA, the following chapters are designed to take you through the basic common functionality that we think you would all like to use.
PIDA projects are the way in which PIDA organises a set of files. The default project type maps to a single source directory, which is then used for quick navigation and version control functions.
Firstly, from the Project menu select New Project, and Enter the information into the newly displayed form.
Once you have entered this information click ok.
You will be presented with the initial project configuration dialog for the project.
Depending on the type of project, you will have different options. The most common option is Source Directory. This is the directory that will be navigated to when clicking on a project, and the directory that is used for project functions, including version control. When you are happy with the configuration, press the save button.
Your new project will have appeared on the project list, and is available to browse and use.
Note
The project file may be stored in the project source directory if required. The initial value of the project source directory actually defaults to the location of the project source file. This allows you to add the project file to a version control system and monitor the changes.
First, Locate the project list. It is in the pane marked plugins and has an icon signifying a project. This pane will be used to access projects.
Selecting a project from this project list will open a file manager in the source directory of the project, whatever that is configured to be.
Right-clicking on a project gives the context menu. This context menu is divided into three sections of contexts.
Projects are configured using the project configuration dialog. To open the project configuration dialog, either:
You should click the Save button when you have finished and are happy.
The Undo button allows you to revert changes to the configuration back to the last saved state.
The Cancel button closes the dialog without saving any changes. Closing the dialog manually will have the same effect as pressing Cancel.
PIDA automatically detects which version control system you are using for a particular source directory. This allows you to choose the version control system you wish to use.
PIDA currently supports:
Version control is used throughout PIDA in 3 ways which are outlined below.
The project list states the version control system for a project. When a project is selected, main version control commands (from the main menu and main toolbar) will be executed in the source directory of the project, automatically using the correct version control system.
The version control commands may also be accessed using the context menu made available by right-clicking on a project.
The built-in file browser autoimatically lists version control information for listed files. This information appears as a standard set of letters (e.g. M for a locally modified file) adjacent to filenames in the browser.
To use this, click on any project, in order to open the browser at the project's source directory.
When right clicking on a file or directory, you are given a list of version control commands which can be carried out n the file or directory.
Pida now has supports a TODO list, featured in some other python IDEs. As you write code, you can include comment tags with the word "TODO:" in. In the side panel for browsing source code (the source browser & error buttons), click on the small icon at the bottom, and you'll see a list of your tasks still undone. Clicking on one of these will take you to the appropriate place in your document, and you can do whatever small task it was that required the note in the first place.
The MIT License:
Copyright (c) 2005-2006 The PIDA Project Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT, TURTLE, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
For others using Vim, there's a few bits and pieces you might find useful, including:
Pydiction, which lets you add python modules, including classes and methods, to vim's autocomplete functionality. You can also add your own project(s) to the autocompleting. Download from the site, extract it, and put these lines in your .vimrc:
if has("autocmd") autocmd FileType python set complete+=k/path/to/pydiction isk+=.,( endif " has("autocmd")
Now when you press Ctrl+n (next), or Ctrl+p (previous), vim should autocomplete to the appropriate python code.
Python.vim, which has some extra functions for handling python code, including: