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Good question about the value of a REPL to Python. My first experience with a REPL was the SQL*Plus tool from Oracle. I don't remember it being called a REPL. B
by bpyne 6y ago
Good question about the value of a REPL to Python. My first experience with a REPL was the SQL*Plus tool from Oracle. I don't remember it being called a REPL. But, as I read about Common Lisp's REPL, I realized that I had been using one.
Early in my experience with Oracle's DBMS, I found the REPL handy to work out ideas. But a REPL is essentially a single line editor from which you can evaluate expressions/statements. As my ideas grew, the REPL became more of a hindrance. Having a full screen editor became more necessary.
Nowadays I work out all ideas within an IDE, firing up the REPL only for quick data checks. So my answer is that a REPL is helpful but not necessary.
- giancarlostoro 6y ago> But a REPL is essentially a single line editor from which you can evaluate expressions/statements. It is not always single line, look at IDLE or even Firefox supports multiline REPL capabilities although it still needs some improvements (like not rerunning var declaration statements).
- bpyne 6y agoThanks. Multiline certainly raises the value of a REPL.
- giancarlostoro 6y agoI think so too, though I guess single line makes more sense to an extent, there's a lot more that could be done with REPLs, like I'm surprised you can't just click on a previously submitted segment of code to be auto copied in the input text field (in the case of GUI based REPLs).