In the below snip, #1 is # and is colored blue
I think it would be good to add a couple more in this list. For example:
“#+” color could be changed to reflect a different color
“#-” color could be changed to reflect yet another color
It doesnt have to be ±, but a couple more colors would be useful.
Seems relatively easy to implement… famous last words.
IDLE maintainer here. I don’t understand the proposal. The first line is a comment. It is blue because you or someone customized it that way. You can change the blue to anything you want.
The “#+” and “#-” notation means nothing to me.
Perhaps this should be moved to the help channel, but it needs a clear question.
I really appreciate the timely response. Here is some more detail.
Today, Idle recognizes # as a comment line. The user can go in and configure it however they want as you say for color and background. Python execution just sees the # and not the color, color is just what Idle does with a line that has a # in it.
The idea is that there could be different types of comments.
#+ for example would mean nothing more to python, it is still just a comment. But Idle could recognize it as a unique type of comment and allow the user to give it a different color in the Idle configurator.
The user could then use # for regular comments some color like green above.
#+ could be used by the user to indicate a different kind of comment and assign a different color.
Dont get hung up on #+, it could be any thing that makes more sense, like #! if you thought that would be more intuitive.
Interesting idea, and now this is indeed an idea rather than help item. Many people already use a double ‘##’ for ‘action’ comments – either code that has been commented-out, presumably temporarily (te either uncomment or remove), or other possible changes, such as in your #+ and #- examples. Since the REPL is now syntax colorized (unless disabled), this proposal need not be IDLE specific.
If you want to pursue this idea, I suggest you copy the changed title to a new proposal, for both REPL and IDLE and any thing else, for the Ideas channel, change the title here to “Deleted by Author”, and delete whatever text you can or at least edit the first post to refer to the new idea post. I expect negative comments such as “searching for ‘##’ is sufficient” and “not worth the trouble”.
Thank you for being so helpful. This is my very first post on the site so I am not sure I understand what you are referring to. Just a couple of questions, I am sure you are busy. I will make it a short list.
Did I post this idea in the right place? You mentioned “idea channel”, is that here?
And you think I could submit the same thing (but more clearly stated) under a different title? I am not sure why, but maybe so it lands on someone else’s desk? I am not sure how to word that or tag it so it goes to the right place? I am happy to do, just don’t understand the process yet.
And I am also happy to close this discussion.. after I think about re-submitting.
Any feedback is appreciated.
This is the right place for ideas, yes.
The point of reposting under a different title is that Python does syntax colouring in both IDLE and in the REPL, and it would make sense to have the same options in both. This post is only going to attract the attention of people interested in IDLE, so by posting it as an idea for both IDLE and the REPL, you will get a bigger audience. It’s not precisely the same as “landing on someone’s desk” (Python is a volunteer project, so no-one is assigned to monitor particular areas), but it’s similar - you need someone to take an interest in your idea if it’s to get accepted.
I’m not sure it’s necessary to close this thread, or delete your original post here. But we do get people who could “this has been discussed before” pointing at this thread, as well as people who won’t notice the new thread and continue discussing here, so being 100% clear that this discussion is no longer active, and the new thread is where to continue the discussion, is definitely worthwhile.
As @tjreedy said, it’s likely you will get a number of people saying this isn’t worth doing, so you should probably be prepared for that. If you have examples of other editors or syntax highlighters that offer this feature, with evidence that it’s popular there, that would be a big advantage in proposing the feature for Python.
