1. Whichever one works best for you, of course. :) There are lots of editors and IDEs out there. I find myself coming back to Emacs and jEdit the most, but there are a sizable number of vi partisans (benighted heathens tho they be) and an increasing number of Eclipse, Wing and Komodo partisans. Having tried all the free ones I could get my mitts on... well, Emacs and jEdit serve my needs just fine. Your mileage may vary significantly.
2-5 are all either IDE opinion questions, which I'll duck, or specific technologies I don't use, which I'll duck. Resuming with 6... _Core Python Programming_ is a reasonable read for a beginner. I prefer Mark Lutz's _Programming Python_ 2nd Ed, though. _Learning Python_ is also a good choice, but only for real beginners to programming--if you already know a programming language, _Programming Python_ is the better choice. I use Beazley's _Python Essential Reference_ about once every couple of days. Surprisingly, I use it more than _Python in a Nutshell_, but that may be due more to the fact _PER_ is usually within closer reach. They're both good references, with _PiaN_ being more heavyweight with better coverage. The _Python Cookbook_ is a great way to expand your knowledge of Python and discover the weird and cool stuff you can do with it. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
