I've not used idle, so I don't know how it compares to Emacs with python-mode. Perhaps it is better. But I suspect that idle is not so good at editing LaTeX documents. Or C code. As an Emacs user, I can write/compile/debug all these types of things within the same editor, which makes me more productive.
Specifically I use:
* Emacs with cc-mode for editing C and C++ programs, and M-x compile for compiling them. I use this for both PC programs and embedded microcontroller software.
* Emacs+AuCTeX for editing and compiling LaTeX documents.
* Emacs+python-mode for editing and executing Python code.
* Emacs+nxml-mode for editing DocBook documents. Again I use M-x compile to compile the DocBook into HTML.
* Emacs+guile-debugging mode for editing and debugging Guile code.
Sometimes I do more than one of the above at once. For instance, if I'm interfacing Guile with a C library, I will be switching between C and Guile regularly.
I should also point out that I use revision control with all these kind of things. Some projects use SVN and some use CVS, but I don't need to worry about it with Emacs, I use C-x v = and C-x v v and C-x v d and they work they same whether it's CVS or SVN. Oh, and also C-x 4 a is a good one for making ChangeLog entries.
Just a few reasons why I like Emacs . . .
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