<s>
eric	B-Application
is	O
a	O
free	B-Application
integrated	B-Application
development	I-Application
environment	I-Application
(	O
IDE	O
)	O
used	O
for	O
computer	B-General_Concept
programming	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
eric	B-Application
is	O
written	O
in	O
the	O
programming	O
language	O
Python	B-Language
and	O
its	O
primary	O
use	O
is	O
for	O
developing	O
software	O
written	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
usable	O
for	O
development	O
of	O
any	O
combination	O
of	O
Python	B-Language
3	O
or	O
Python	B-Language
2	O
,	O
Qt	B-Language
5	I-Language
or	O
Qt	B-Language
4	O
and	O
PyQt	B-Language
5	O
or	O
PyQt	B-Language
4	O
projects	O
,	O
on	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
macOS	B-Application
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
eric	B-Application
is	O
licensed	O
under	O
the	O
GNU	O
General	O
Public	O
License	O
version	O
3	O
or	O
later	O
and	O
is	O
thereby	O
Free	B-Application
Software	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
means	O
in	O
general	O
terms	O
that	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
of	O
eric	B-Application
can	O
be	O
studied	O
,	O
changed	O
and	O
improved	O
by	O
anyone	O
,	O
that	O
eric	B-Application
can	O
be	O
run	O
for	O
any	O
purpose	O
by	O
anyone	O
and	O
that	O
eric	B-Application
-	O
and	O
any	O
changes	O
or	O
improvements	O
that	O
may	O
have	O
been	O
made	O
to	O
it	O
-	O
can	O
be	O
redistributed	O
by	O
anyone	O
to	O
anyone	O
as	O
long	O
as	O
the	O
license	O
is	O
not	O
changed	O
(	O
copyleft	B-License
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
eric	B-Application
can	O
be	O
downloaded	O
at	O
SourceForge	B-Application
and	O
installed	O
manually	O
with	O
a	O
python	B-Language
installer	O
script	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
major	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	I-Application
include	O
eric	B-Application
in	O
their	O
software	B-Application
repositories	I-Application
,	O
so	O
when	O
using	O
such	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	I-Application
eric	B-Application
can	O
be	O
obtained	O
and	O
installed	O
automatically	O
by	O
using	O
the	O
package	B-Application
manager	I-Application
of	O
the	O
particular	O
distribution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
the	O
author	O
offers	O
access	O
to	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
via	O
a	O
public	O
Mercurial	B-Protocol
repository	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
eric	B-Application
is	O
written	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
and	O
uses	O
the	O
PyQt	B-Language
Python	B-Language
bindings	O
for	O
the	O
Qt	B-Language
GUI	B-Library
toolkit	I-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
design	O
,	O
eric	B-Application
acts	O
as	O
a	O
front	O
end	O
for	O
several	O
programs	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
the	O
QScintilla	B-Language
editor	O
widget	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
key	O
features	O
of	O
eric	B-Application
6	O
are	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
GUI	B-Application
designing	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Version	B-Architecture
control	I-Architecture
:	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
eric	B-Application
version	O
5.5.0	O
,	O
eric	B-Application
version	O
4	O
and	O
eric	B-Application
version	O
5	O
coexisted	O
and	O
were	O
maintained	O
simultaneously	O
,	O
while	O
eric	B-Application
4	O
was	O
the	O
variant	O
for	O
writing	O
software	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
version	O
2	O
and	O
eric	B-Application
version	O
5	O
was	O
the	O
variant	O
for	O
writing	O
software	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
version	O
3	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
eric	B-Application
version	O
5.5.0	O
both	O
variants	O
had	O
been	O
merged	O
into	O
one	O
,	O
so	O
that	O
all	O
versions	O
as	O
of	O
eric	B-Application
version	O
5.5.0	O
support	O
writing	O
software	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
2	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
3	O
,	O
making	O
the	O
separate	O
development	O
lanes	O
of	O
eric	B-Application
version	O
4	O
and	O
5	O
obsolete	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Until	O
2016	O
,	O
eric	B-Application
used	O
a	O
software	O
versioning	O
scheme	O
with	O
a	O
three-sequence	O
identifier	O
,	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
sequence	O
represents	O
the	O
major	O
version	O
number	O
which	O
is	O
increased	O
when	O
there	O
are	O
significant	O
jumps	O
in	O
functionality	O
,	O
the	O
second	O
sequence	O
represents	O
the	O
minor	O
number	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
incremented	O
when	O
only	O
some	O
features	O
or	O
significant	O
fixes	O
have	O
been	O
added	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
third	O
sequence	O
is	O
the	O
revision	B-Architecture
number	I-Architecture
,	O
which	O
is	O
incremented	O
when	O
minor	O
bugs	O
are	O
fixed	O
or	O
minor	O
features	O
have	O
been	O
added	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
eric	B-Application
follows	O
the	O
development	O
philosophy	O
of	O
Release	O
early	O
,	O
release	O
often	O
,	O
following	O
loosely	O
a	O
time-based	O
release	O
schedule	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
following	O
table	O
shows	O
the	O
version	O
history	O
of	O
eric	B-Application
,	O
starting	O
from	O
version	O
4.0.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Added	O
support	O
for	O
Django	B-Language
and	O
TurboGears	B-Language
(	O
later	O
transformed	O
to	O
plug-ins	B-Application
)	O
2008-08-09	O
Added	O
a	O
toolbar	O
manager	O
2009-02-08	O
Changed	O
license	O
to	O
GPL	O
"	O
v3	O
or	O
later	O
"	O
2010-01-09	O
Changed	O
the	O
help	O
viewer	O
to	O
a	O
full	O
blown	O
web	O
browser	O
(	O
based	O
on	O
QtWebKit	O
)	O
eric	B-Application
news	O
2010	O
2012-02-04	O
Added	O
Mac	B-Application
OS	I-Application
X	O
to	O
the	O
officially	O
supported	O
platformseric	O
news	O
20125	O
2010-07-04	O
The	O
eric	B-Application
5	O
branch	O
represents	O
the	O
new	O
Python	B-Language
3	O
variant	O
of	O
eric	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
not	O
supporting	O
Python	B-Language
2	O
(	O
yet	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
Python	B-Language
2	O
support	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
eric	B-Application
4	O
branch	O
is	O
continued	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
2011-02-27	O
2012-02-18	O
Added	O
Mac	B-Application
OS	I-Application
X	O
to	O
the	O
officially	O
supported	O
platforms	O
2013-02-03	O
Added	O
support	O
for	O
Qt5eric	O
news	O
2013	O
2014-01-07	O
Added	O
support	O
for	O
PyQt5	B-Language
projectseric	O
news	O
2014	O
2014-10-27	O
Added	O
Python	B-Language
2	O
support	O
to	O
the	O
eric	B-Application
5	O
branch	O
,	O
so	O
that	O
from	O
now	O
on	O
both	O
,	O
Python	B-Language
3	O
and	O
Python	B-Language
2	O
,	O
are	O
supported	O
by	O
one	O
single	O
version	O
of	O
eric	B-Application
,	O
making	O
the	O
eric	B-Application
4	O
branch	O
for	O
Python	B-Language
2	O
obsolete	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
not	O
further	O
continued6	O
2014-12-28	O
eric	B-Application
6	O
replaces	O
the	O
eric	B-Application
5.5.x	O
line	O
of	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
allusions	O
are	O
made	O
to	O
the	O
British	O
comedy	O
group	O
Monty	O
Python	B-Language
,	O
which	O
the	O
Python	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
is	O
named	O
after	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Eric	B-Application
alludes	O
to	O
Eric	B-Application
Idle	B-Application
,	O
a	O
member	O
of	O
the	O
group	O
,	O
and	O
IDLE	B-Application
,	O
the	O
standard	O
python	B-Language
IDE	O
shipped	O
with	O
most	O
distributions	O
.	O
</s>
