How do you get Intellisense for Python in Eclipse/Aptana/Pydev?

Question

Does anyone know how to get an intellisense like functionality (better than default) in eclipse for python development? I am using Eclipse 3.5 with aptana and pydev and the interpreter is python 2.5.2

Answer 1

You are probably never going to get something as good as intellisense for python. Due to the dynamic nature of python, it is often impossible to be able to know the type of some variables. And if you don't know their types, you can't do auto-complete on things like class members.

Personally, I think the auto-complete in PyDev is pretty good, given the nature of python. It isn't as good as for Java and probably won't be, but it sure beats not having anything.

Having said that, I haven't tried if PyDev is able to use the parameter types you can specify in python 3.x. Otherwise, that might be an improvement that could make life a little easier.

Update: Got curious and did a quick test, Looks like optional type information in python 3 is not used by PyDev.

Answer 2

I'm using eclipse 3.6 and pydev with python 2.6 and it's the best one I've tested up to now. I didn't try 3.5 so not sure if it's the same as yours but I think it autocompletes well compared to others I tried but I didn't try any of the paid ones.

Answer 3

In Aptana I added the reference to the .egg file to the system PYTHONPATH in Preferences menu. I am not sure if this works for every library out there.

Preferences --> PyDev --> Interpreter Python --> Libraries tab on the right.