pyrepl.html to rst conversion

Author: RonnyPfannschmidt

pyrepl.html

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+pyrepl
+======
+
+For ages now, I've been working on and off on a replacement for
+readline for use from Python.  readline is undoubtedly great, but a
+couple of things irritate me about it.  One is the inability to do
+sane multi-line editing.  Have you ever typed something like::
+
+  >>> for i in range(10):
+  ...     for i in range(10):
+  ...         print i*j
+
+into a Python top-level?  Grr, that "i" on the second line should have
+been a "j".  Wouldn't it be nice if you could just press "up" on your
+keyboard and fix it?  This was one of the aims I kept in mind when
+writing pyrepl (or pyrl as I used to call it, but that name's 
+`taken <http://www.algonet.se/~jsjogren/oscar/cython/>`_).
+
+Another irritation of readline is the GPL.  I'm not even nearly as
+anti-GPL as some, but I don't want to have to GPL my program just so I
+can use readline.
+
+0.7 adds to the version that runs an a terminal an experimental
+version that runs in a pygame surface.  A long term goal is
+Mathematica-like notebooks, but that's a loong way off...
+
+Anyway, after many months of intermittent toil I present:
+
+
+Dependencies: Python 2.7 with the termios and curses modules built (I
+don't really use curses, but I need the terminfo functions that live
+in the curses module), or pygame installed (if you want to live on the
+bleeding edge).
+
+There are probably portability gremlins in some of the ioctl using
+code.  Fixes gratefully received!
+
+Features:
+ * sane multi-line editing
+ * history, with incremental search
+ * completion, including displaying of available options
+ * a fairly large subset of the readline emacs-mode key bindings (adding
+   more is mostly just a matter of typing)
+ * Deliberately liberal, Python-style license
+ * a new python top-level that I really like; possibly my favourite
+   feature I've yet added is the ability to type::
+
+     ->> from __f
+
+   and hit TAB to get::
+
+     ->> from __future__
+
+   then you type " import n" and hit tab again to get::
+
+     ->> from __future__ import nested_scopes
+
+   (this is very addictive!).
+
+ * no global variables, so you can run two independent
+   readers without having their histories interfering.
+ * An experimental version that runs in a pygame surface.
+
+pyrepl currently consists of four major classes::
+
+  Reader - HistoricalReader - CompletingReader - PythonReader
+
+
+There's also a **UnixConsole** class that handles the low-level
+details.
+
+Each of these lives in it's own file, and there are a bunch of support
+files (including a C module that just provides a bit of a speed up -
+building it is strictly optional).
+
+IMHO, the best way to get a feel for how it works is to type::
+
+  $ python pythoni
+
+and just play around.  If you're used to readline's emacs-mode, you
+should feel right at home.  One point that might confuse: because the
+arrow keys are used to move up and down in the command currently being
+edited, you need to use ^P and ^N to move through the history.
+