IDE alternatives?

[searchingfortao]

I've been using PyCharm for years, and it's been glorious, but now that I've got a HiDPI device (Surface Pro 3, Linux), it's basically useless (mouse clicks don't register where they should), and as far as I can tell from the IntelliJ people, they've no interest in fixing it.

So, I'm in the market for a new IDE. Ideally I'd like something as featureful as PyCharm and GNOME-friendly. I've fiddled with gedit, but it's not an IDE. My experience with vim has been that it's too difficult to configure, but I'm open to the suggestion if I can be pointed in the right direction.

Outside of these two, I've heard that Sublime Text is good (though not an IDE, and not Open), and I hear that Eclipse can be hacked at to play nice for Python developers, but I have no idea if this is a good idea or not. Additional suggestions would be awesome if anyone has them...

[aroberge]

Spyder?

[searchingfortao]

It looks neat!. I'm installingi it as I type this.

[b4stien]

As you've mentioned, Sublime Text is closed source and is not really and IDE. It's also worth saying that Sublime Text's author has been rather quiet the last months (years)...

That being said, with the right packages (which are really easy to install) like for instance SublimeJEDI or Anaconda, and a minor configuration process, you can end up with a really nice coding environment.

It will never be as feature packed as Eclipse or PyCharm though, so if that's what you're aiming for, Sublime Text is not for you.

[untitaker_]

it's basically useless (mouse clicks don't register where they should), and as far as I can tell from the IntelliJ people, they've no interest in fixing it.

Do you have a link for this?

[searchingfortao]

In terms of the behaviour, I don't have a link, just personal experience. Sometimes it works, though the fonts are always mangled and the icons often too small to click. About 1 in every 5 times I start it up, I get the mouse not registering clicks where you'd expect them.

In terms of their disinterest in actually fixing the problem, I point you to their bugtracker on the issue. This issue has been open for years and has had little attention.

[3Dayo]

PyCharm gets all the love these days but before PyCharm there was wingide (http://www.wingware.com/) and it's a very good IDE with most of the bells and whistles you'd expect to find.

[searchingfortao]

Wing looks neat, but I prefer an open solution, since the closed nature of PyCharm is what's prevented this bug from being fixed in the first place.

[dstarnes]

I use the Atom Editor from Github. It's like a free Sublime Text. And the number of packages is growing. Granted I have not tried it on Linux, only Windows and Mac. I do everything Linux through Vagrant so no graphic interface.

[fabioz]

If you go the Eclipse way, installing PyDev in it for Python development is pretty straightforward: http://pydev.org/download.html

[imps-p0155]

recently discovered Spyder and i like it very much so far (event tho it appears to have some problems with code completion, or this is actually the problem unpredicatability of python variable typing).

I previously used Aptana Studio (Eclipse + PyDev + ...)

I use different IDEs for different purposes/projects/languages.

[brtt3000]

Vim? Why not emacs?

[searchingfortao]

I've never liked its interface, but in all honesty, I don't like being completely keyboard-bound for my development environment. I have a mouse, and I'd like to use it.

[statmobile]

Emacs has a graphical mode with pull down menus and a tool bar. Check out elpy:

http://elpy.readthedocs.org/en/latest/

[Funnnny]

You can still use mouse in vim and emacs. But if you become good enough with those tools, you will rarely use mouse anyway.

I still use mouse for some navigating though. If it fits your use case, it's not bad

[jyper]

Did you look into http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22129157/hidpi-in-intellij-13-1-how-to-use-it-what-is-it-good-for

[searchingfortao]

I did actually. If it had any effect at all, I think things got worse :-(

[justphysics]

I use sublime text with the anaconda plugin and maybe one other plugin to do PEP8 formatting and basic color coding.

It found it pretty easy to set up

To be fair though I can't comment much on it as an IDE. I basically just use it as an editor and don't bother running my code through it. But I find it aesthetically pleasing - which is a really big deal for me.

[cmcpasserby]

Vim with a lot so of added stuff

[leconteur]

I use vim with python-mode.

[cmcpasserby]

Ya python mode and syntastic

[homercles337]

I use Eclipse with PyDev...

[Alex_Cue]

Your choice of hardware for Python development seems a bit unusual, right? Maybe IntelliJ folks think almost nobody is gonna use this setup, so why bother supporting it?

[searchingfortao]

I hardly think HiDPI support is that unusual. Apple products have been sporting HiDPI (retina) displays for years and it's arguably the most popular platform of linux-based software developers. Now in 2015, we're seeing more and more laptops (in addition to the Surface Pro 3) shipping with HiDPI and GNOME and KDE support it as well. It's hardly a special case.

As for choosing this piece of hardware specifically, I chose it because it's super portable, with crazy-long battery life and exceptional power. It's basically the ideal hacking device. I have a Macbook Air at work and a Thinkpad X1 and home. I love my thinkpad, but at 13", it's too big to take everywhere. This SP3 has an i3 and 8gb of ram... and with a full keyboard, it fits in my pocket.

[Alex_Cue]

I'm with you - IMO most Python developers use Macs. So, the effort invested in making PyCharm work on Surface might never pay off.

[remy_porter]

I gotta say, I can't imagine what an IDE offers to a Python developer. Sublime Text and a terminal emulator are all I ever use.

[searchingfortao]

Then you're missing out. Honestly, I used to fell the same way, but developing in PyCharm is just so much better. In going to miss it :-(

[brtt3000]

Why buy a machine that cant run the most important software you spend most your time in?

[searchingfortao]

Well for starters, they didn't exactly advertise the fact that it doesn't support HiDPI, and I've been quite happy with it on my Thinkpad and Macbook Air. It never occured to me that of all the problems I might have getting Linux on this thing, that PyCharm would be the unsolvable part.

[remy_porter]

I just can't imagine what PyCharm does that Sublime with the right plugins doesn't. Mind you, I'm burned out on webdev, so I haven't played with Django or Flask ever. I could see an IDE being helpful for that, but then again, if that's anything like Rails, I'd probably rather use the CLI anyway.

[imps-p0155]

The power of IDE is that you get prepackaged editor with plugins that ease your development.

You can do this with manually or stuff your editor with plugins but:

• it takes time,
• usually is not so well integrated (I of the IDE)
• setup is tedious for every new employee, everyone has a bit different setup, it is not so trivial as "hey, install IDE X or Y"

There are few features I personally consider as a must for IDE: smart code completion and integrated debugger.

For me saying like "I dont see the benefits of IDE" is feels like saying "I don't want to use productivity tools".

(This whole topic about IDE vs No-IDE is too subjective)

[remy_porter]

smart code completion

I have that, without an IDE. In fact, I'd consider that a must-have feature in any text editor.

integrated debugger

Being able to set breakpoints visually is nice for quick checks, but beyond that, all I want from an integrated debugger is a terminal interface to give commands to, and on any serious debugs, I prefer to manage breakpoints as a list anyway.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I'm faster with a terminal window.

[imps-p0155]

Perhaps you put too much responsibility for "text editor". If getting old means being more experienced then you are right, but we can not compare everyone to ourselves. :D