IDLE breakpoint facility undocumented

[ned-deily]

BPO	10405
Nosy	@terryjreedy, @kbkaiser, @taleinat, @ned-deily, @merwok, @rovitotv
Files	idle.rst: Python-3.2.tar.bz2\Python-3.2\Doc\library</li> IDLEBreakPointDocumentation.patch

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

Show more details

GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2012-10-20.20:36:01.595>
created_at = <Date 2010-11-13.08:54:33.341>
labels = ['expert-IDLE', 'docs']
title = 'IDLE breakpoint facility undocumented'
updated_at = <Date 2012-10-20.20:36:01.570>
user = 'https://github.com/ned-deily'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2012-10-20.20:36:01.570>
actor = 'ned.deily'
assignee = 'docs@python'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2012-10-20.20:36:01.595>
closer = 'ned.deily'
components = ['Documentation', 'IDLE']
creation = <Date 2010-11-13.08:54:33.341>
creator = 'ned.deily'
dependencies = []
files = ['22268', '27628']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 10405
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 8.0
messages = ['121121', '121849', '121854', '137781', '173369', '173370', '173411', '173412']
nosy_count = 9.0
nosy_names = ['terry.reedy', 'kbk', 'taleinat', 'ned.deily', 'eric.araujo', 'docs@python', 'Todd.Rovito', 'python-dev', 'Nick.ODell']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue10405'
versions = ['Python 2.7', 'Python 3.2', 'Python 3.3', 'Python 3.4']

[ned-deily]

In neither the IDLE section of the Library Reference nor in IDLE's own help file is there any documentation on how to use its breakpoint capability. Since the menu options only appear if the user knows to Right-click (or Control-click on OS X - see bpo-10404), it would be easy for a user to never realize that the breakpoint capability exists.

[merwok]

Can you propose a patch, as a diff or even plain English in a reply?

[ned-deily]

I'd rather see the wording come from more experienced users of IDLE and on other platforms.

[NickODell]

I've added a short note regarding breakpoints in Doc/library/idle.rst

Ned, I'm not an experienced user with IDLE by any means, but I think some documentation is better than none, no?

[rovitotv]

Nick,
I agree some documentation is better than none. But somebody could do better I am not sure how to debug in IDLE. I have taken your file and created a 2.7 patch.

[rovitotv]

This patch works for both Python 3.4 and Python 2.7, it is a very simple patch.

[python-dev]

New changeset c0a423ce4b96 by Ned Deily in branch '2.7':
Issue bpo-10405: Document IDLE context menus in Standard Library document
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/c0a423ce4b96

New changeset 566b7574becb by Ned Deily in branch '3.2':
Issue bpo-10405: Document IDLE context menus in Standard Library document
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/566b7574becb

New changeset 85c4d21f7454 by Ned Deily in branch '3.3':
Issue bpo-10405: merge from 3.2
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/85c4d21f7454

New changeset ea7849650fd1 by Ned Deily in branch 'default':
Issue bpo-10405: merge from 3.3
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/ea7849650fd1

[ned-deily]

Thanks for your suggestions, Nick and Todd. While reviewing them, I realized that there is also a small context (right-click) menu for the IDLE shell window as well. I expanded the doc changes to include it and included several other minor doc updates. I also updated the builtin IDLE Help file.

By the way, if you haven't already and wish to contribute patches, please be sure to sign a PSF contributor agreement (http://www.python.org/psf/contrib/).