Having decided to clean-up my machine, I had to find a solution for the Python mess. Having Eclipse for Java and C++, I decided to give it a try for Python.

Here are some of the benefits I found:

1. You can reuse the dev environment without additional install
2. Eclipse with PyDev is a unified IDE and debugger
3. It is a familiar environment
4. You can use both Python 2.x and 3.x for different projects in your workspace
5. Download and disk footprint are smaller than the best alternatives
6. It is super easy to install and use

Here are the simple steps to install:

1. Run Eclipse, go to Help menu, and click “Install New Software…”
2. Click the “Add” button, enter “http://pydev.org/updates” in location and click OK
3. Select PyDev, click Next and follow the install steps accepting the licence

Here is how to make a simple Python test project

1. Go to File menu, click New then PyDev Project
2. Enter your project name, select the grammar version, and interpreter. If you have not set up any yet, just click “Click here to configure an interpreter not listed”, click New, browse to your python.exe directory and click Ok.
3. Right click your project, then New, then Source folder
4. Right click your source folder, then New, then PyDevModule