What does HackerNews think of ptpython?

I too agree with pretty much everything you say. Just want to add that I pretty much solely use ptpython[0]. It can handle line breaks in pasted code, vim (or emacs) bindings and syntax highlighting, and much more.

[0] https://github.com/prompt-toolkit/ptpython

If you like using the REPL, for Python I recommend you try https://github.com/prompt-toolkit/ptpython

You can check out download stats stats for Urwid on PyPI Stats [1], that should give you a decent idea of its popularity.

Also check out the list of applications built with Urwid [2]. Probably the two most popular applications that use Urwid are bpython [3] (an alternative Python REPL that is really nice), and PUDB [4] (a nice Python debugger that is reminiscent of Borland's Turbo Pascal). I use bpython all the time, it's a lifesaver, and I occasionally fire up PUDB when I am really stuck on something.

I've used Urwid in a couple of projects (most notably Zeitzono [5]), it's nice in that it's fairly high level and gives you a number of helpful widgets to work with. Starting with it from scratch is a little daunting, so you should look at existing projects to see how they are using the library. Also, I believe Urwid development has slowed down somewhat in the last few years (although other folks maybe stepping up to take over from the original author, I haven't follow up on this in a while).

Also definitely take a look at Python Prompt Toolkit [6]. They started off as library for writing line-oriented command interpreters, but now can also be used for building full screen applications. I've not yet built an application using it, but it looks really good and is actively developed. ptpython [7] is a REPL built using this library and gives bpython a run for its money.

[1] https://pypistats.org/packages/urwid

[2] https://github.com/urwid/urwid/wiki/Application-list

[3] https://bpython-interpreter.org/

[4] https://github.com/inducer/pudb

[5] https://zeitzono.org/

[6] https://github.com/prompt-toolkit/python-prompt-toolkit

[7] https://github.com/prompt-toolkit/ptpython