Python is a great programming language for writing scripts and building apps for your PC. But with so many IDEs available, it can be hard to know which one is the best Python IDE for you.
When it comes to installing IDEs for Python, there are few, if any, that are better than PyCharm. This is not only due to the quality of its features but also because of what it can do for us. I am talking about one of the most feature-packed IDE that supports Python on Windows 10.
Pydev
Type: IDE
Price: Open Source
Platform Support: QT, WINDOWS, LINUX, MAC OS etc.
Screenshots For Reference:
PyDev is an outside plugin for Eclipse.
It is basically an IDE that is used for Python development. It is linear in size. It mainly focuses on the refactoring of python code, debugging in the graphical pattern, analysis of code etc. It is a strong python interpreter.
As it’s a plugin for eclipse it becomes more flexible for the developers to use the IDE for development of an application with so many features. In open source IDE, it is one of the preferred IDE by the developers.
Best Features:
- It is a nice IDE with Django integration, auto code completion and code coverage feature.
- It supports some rich features like type hinting, refactoring, debugging, and code analysis.
- PyDev supports PyLint integration, tokens browser, interactive console, Unittest integration, and remote debugger etc.
- It also supports Mypy, black formatter, virtual environments, and analyzing f-strings.
Pros:
- PyDev provides a strong syntax high lighting, parser errors, code folding, and multi-language support.
- It has a good outline view, it marks occurrences as well and has an interactive console.
- It has good support for CPython, Jython, Iron Python, and Django and allows interactive probing in suspended mode.
- It provides tabs preferences, smart indent, Pylint integration, TODO tasks, auto-completion of keywords and content assistants.
Cons:
- Sometimes the plugins in PyDev become unstable by creating issues in the development of the application.
- Performance of PyDev IDE decreases if the application is too big with multiple plugins.
Official URL: PyDev
Atom IDE
Many of you would have already heard about the Atom open-source code editor that is developed by GitHub, but it is only a text editor and basically a desktop application (great user experience). Atom IDE is a platform that provides you with almost all of the basic functions of an Integrated Development Environment and works on cross-platform editing smoothly. It is supported by an open-source community and developed by Facebook.
Features of Atom IDE
- Auto-completion and code coverage
- Built-in package manager and file system browser
- Outline view
- Go to definition
- Compatible with all major platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux)
Plus, if you install the atom-ide-ui package, you’ll be able to start using features in Atom that are similar to those found in other best Python IDEs, such as:
- Improved and efficient documentation
- Easier and smooth code navigation
- Debugging and troubleshooting. Also gives warnings and shows errors in the code.
Source: Wikimedia CommonsDownload Link: https://atom.io/
Disadvantages of Atom IDE
- It requires heavy and excessive RAM consumption
- System latency and optimization demand improvisation, and it’s not advised for handling large code files.
Visual Studio Code
Another popular Python IDE on the list that can be used for Python development is Visual Studio Code (VS Code) -a free and open-source IDE made by Microsoft for Windows Linux and macOS operating systems with some powerful features. VS Code is an extensible code editor, not to be mistaken for Visual Studio.
Visual Studio Code is equivalent to Atom as far as functionality is considered. Like Atom, VS Code is based on Electron, which implies that these two projects enjoy practically similar benefits and detriments.
Sources: Visual studio codeDownload Link: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Features of Visual Studio Code
- You can add augmentations to establish a full-fledged Python development environment according to your need.
- It gives components like intelligent code completion, linting for potential errors, debugging and troubleshooting, and unit testing.
- It is a lightweight IDE loaded with incredible provisions that serve as the primary motivation behind it becoming well known among Python software developers.
Versus Code is Microsoft’s venture, with the most noteworthy number of benefactors on GitHub. This drive has supported Microsoft’s reputation and situated it as one of the significant parts of the community software. You can also add another language to the climate, like Python, for this scenario.
Thonny
Brought into existence by the University of Tartu in Estonia, Thonny is a lightweight Python IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that surfaces with an exceptionally straightforward UI and just comprises essential and significant elements that make things a lot simpler for Python Developers, particularly for amateurs.
Features of Thonny
- It permits the software developers to check the effect of code and shell commands on python variables and also includes a simple debugger. Not to forget how the code editor highlights the syntax errors.
- It also includes backing for CPython and MicroPython and shows steps through Expression Evaluation.
- A portion of the extra significant provisions of Thonny is – statement stepping without breakpoints, live variables during the process of debugging, ability to access a new window with a separate local variables table and code pointer, availability of separate windows for performing function calls, along with a simple and clean pip GUI.
- Compatible with all major platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux) and comes with the mode for explaining references.
Source: Wikimedia CommonsDownload Link: https://thonny.org/
This product is especially appropriate for beginners who wish to begin learning programming and development in Python (since it has only basic functionalities). For example, Spyder integrates well with common Python data science libraries like SciPy NumPy Matplotlib Spyder features most of the “common IDE features” you might expect, such as a code editor with robust syntax highlighting, Python code completion, and even an integrated documentation browser (realpython.com) and, is along these lines, not suitable for advanced software developers and professionals.
Kite
A super IDE that supports over 16 languages and 16 code editors – Kite! This software is based on ML models that are trained on more than 25 million files, which assists you in quick code completion that is aware of the context of your code.
The main feature of this tool is its ability to provide intelligent suggestions about what function or method will suit your needs. The suggestion engine uses machine learning algorithms to understand how you write code and suggest relevant snippets. You don’t even need to type anything; just start typing and Kite will offer up options.
Source: KiteDownload Link: https://www.kite.com/get-kite
You can easily navigate through different modules using the tree view at the top right corner. If you want to see where something is defined, simply hover over it. Kite IDE also offers Python documentation and the editor provides a function signature as you type your code.
All these amazing features at what cost? ‘Free’!
Sublime Text 3
Another established name in the rundown is Sublime Text, a powerful and popular code editor that upholds numerous programming languages including Python. It’s fast, profoundly adjustable, and comes with a rather big community. It is also compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux.
It includes essential basic built-in support for Python when you install the IDE. But as per your needs, you can also install additional packages such as debugging, auto-completion, code linting, etc. Various packages for scientific development are also included. It’s possible to modify Sublime text to create a full Python development environment.
Source: Sublime HQDownload Link: http://www.sublimetext.com/
Jon Skinner developed Sublime Text IDE on three principles, namely:
- We must be able to focus on the text and not have a lot of different things to look at, that is, a minimal interface.
- There is no hidden text by the windows.
- Fullscreen, multi-screen, side-by-side file editing should be possible- liberty to use as much space as could be possible.
Its noteworthy advantages include highlighting syntax, split editing, accepting text input from users, handling UTF8 BOMs in .gitignore files, and displaying badges for folders and files to indicate Git status.
However, its modification is quite complicated. Also, the need to learn shortcuts and the requirement of a license (‘free trial’ version) can be counted as some of the pitfalls of Sublime Text.
Spyder
Spyder is a free, open-source, cross-platform IDE, and another of the best Python IDEs that serves best the interest of both beginners and intermediate-level professionals and is generally used for scientific development. It has an integrated documentation browser and an active community support.
- It provides you with some remarkable features like interactive execution, advanced analysis & debugging, profiling functionalities, deep inspection, automatic code completion, and many others.
- Compatible with all major platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Installation of the Anaconda distribution is the easiest way to get started with Spyder. You should know that Anaconda is a popular distribution for data science and machine learning that includes numerous scientific packages including NumPy, Pandas, sci-kit-learn, and Matplotlib. (It is definitely famous for its scientific environment)
- It has an integrated and powerful debugger that can be used to debug your code as well as run it in different modes like interactive mode or non-interactive mode etc. You may also use Spyder with PyCharm if you want to have more features than just debugging.
Source: SpyderDownload Link: https://www.spyder-ide.org/
Microsoft Azure Notebooks
Microsoft Azure Notebooks is a complete end-to-end solution provided by Microsoft to manage projects developed through Jupyter notebooks. First, you need to log in to your Microsoft account and choose a plan. A free tier plan is available. Your projects may be built on Python 2, Python 3, R or F#.
You can then initialize an empty project repository with a README markdown file.
Create a project in Azure
Once the repository has been created, you can proceed to creating notebooks and working on them.
Jupyter Notebook in Azure
Azure also lets you start a terminal at the location of the project. You can run Unix commands on the terminal, as well as provide an option to debug your Python code through the terminal.
Azure Terminal
Azure also allows you to share your project with collaborators. The tutorials created by Microsoft for Azure Notebooks are also in the form of projects on the platform. For example, here is a project on accessing data from these Notebooks.
PyCharm
- Category: IDE
- First Release Date: 2010
- Platform Compatibility: Windows, macOS, Linux
- Who It’s For: Intermediate to advanced Python users
- Supporting Languages: Python, Javascript, CoffeeScript, etc.
- Price: Freemium (free limited feature community version, paid full featured professional version)
- Download: PyCharm Download Link
- Popular Companies using Pycharm Python IDE –
Twitter, HP, Thoughtworks, GROUPON, and Telephonic.
Developed by JetBrains, PyCharm is a cross-platform IDE that offers a variety of features such as version control, graphical debugger, integrated unit tester, and pairs well for web development and Data Science tasks. With PyCharm’s API, developers can create their custom plugins for adding new features to the IDE. Other features include:
● Code completion
● Live updates to code changes
● Python refactoring
● Support for full-stack web development
● Support for scientific tool such as matplotlib, numpy, and scipy
● Support for Git, Mercurial and more
● Comes with paid and community editions
Advantages of PyCharm —
● Can boost productivity and code quality
● Highly active community for support
Disadvantages of PyCharm —
● Can be slow to load
● Requires changing default settings for existing projects for best compatibility
● The initial installation might be difficult
Screenshot for References-
Conclusion
Most developers start with an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for their programming language of choice, and Python is no exception to that rule. There are many great options; some that are free, some that are paid, and others that require you to become a member of the program (Shed Skin). I’ve put together this list of what I feel are the best IDEs for Python available. It’s broken down into categories to help you decide which one is right for you; one of them might make your job easier or put you on the fast track towards success.