Last year I wrote about repl.it, an online IDE that supports multiple languages. At the time it had some rudimentary classroom support and since I started using it, repl.it has become better and better. I used it last year with my class because I had to start the year in a lab where I couldn't easily install my own software. I'll continue to use repl.it - mostly for it's ability to schedule publish and manage assignments but when possible, I like having my students work locally.

This year I'm excited about another tool - Thonny. Thonny's a simple Python IDE designed for beginners. I discovered it last year but at a time when it was impractical for me to use with my students. This year I can and I'm really liking it. I'm still an Emacs guy and will continue to use Emacs for my python development (video 1, video 2) but for beginners I think Thonny is the way to go.

Some of Thonny's highlights:

An integrated Python 3 virtual environment making for ease of

installation and consistency across student installs

A debugger that shows how expressions are evaluated

Great visualizations of function calls that make it easier to

understand the call stack and scope

The ability to look at memory to understand references.

Rather than go into the gory details in text, I put together this video: