IDLE Sidebar with Source Control Integration

For a team project in computational linguistics, we built a source-control sidebar feature for Python's IDLE integrated development environment. The goal was to give Python developers native diff visibility and version control context without leaving the editor.

I specialized in the diff visualization layer, implementing line-by-line syntax highlighting for added/removed/modified code, plus a gutter UI with contextual markers (±). This required tight integration with IDLE's split-view architecture and careful handling of viewport synchronization to keep line numbers aligned across panes.

I also owned test coverage for the split-view diff behavior, ensuring marker accuracy, synchronization correctness, and edge cases around empty diffs and large files. My commits concentrated on user-facing clarity — making it obvious what changed and why — while the core git engine and sidebar scaffolding were handled by teammates.

The project followed a branch-heavy workflow with parallel feature streams that converged in the final integration phase. The work shipped as a functional prototype ready for demo.