Before looking for a free Python IDE for Windows, I was fairly certain that there would be more than a few options that would satisfy me. After all, Python is a relatively popular language (although perhaps not gifted with as large a fan base with the C-family of languages, it's still managed to earn a name for itself in a short time span, which is a notable achievment), and so one would imagine that there would be some solid effort into making an environment to aid development.

Unfortunately, my search left me somewhat disappointed. There do appear to be a fair few IDEs available, but the quality leaves a little to be desired. This is no doubt primarily due to the fact that there are free IDEs for other languages (the best of which I think is Eclipse for Java) of a reasonable standard. It's not that the Python IDEs I've found are bad - most of them do allow you to edit files with syntax highlighting, and that is in itself something. It's just that I've been spoilt by offerings for other languages (although, it must be noted that Eclipse started off with a $40 million donation from IBM - not something that can be taken lightly).

The best of the lot which I've tested seems to be Boa Constructor, which is based on wxPython. Of course, it's still far from perfect, but it's a start, and definitely preferrable to developing with Notepad (yes, I know Python comes with IDLE, but you know what I mean). I don't particularly care for the fact that each part of the main screen takes up its own space on the taskbar, since I usually have other apps open at the same time (which causes a lot of unnecessary crowding).

With all my fussing over the IDE, I haven't really explored Python all that much. The small taste I've had so far has been promising. Of course, I say that about everything new I try. I must be very easily impressed, or very dumb (or both - and I have a feeling that's the case). "Ooh, lambda functions..."!