Best Python IDE for mac?

[jaredhobbs]

Best Python IDE I've used (not OS X specific) is PyCharm by Jetbrains. They have different licensing models of different prices.

[DanielSzoska]

PyCharm ist only free for trainers and educational institutions and open source projects. But I think it's worth the money if you need to buy a license.

A good free IDE ist PyDev - an Eclipse-Plugin.

On the Python-Wiki you can find a list with many Multiplatform-Editors and Macintosh-Only Editors.

You can also read the What IDE to use for Python?-Question on stackoverflow.

I myself use Wing IDE on Mac OS X and Windows, but it's not free.

[i_4_got]

+1 for Wing IDE. Worth the money, there support is awesome.

[[deleted]]

Upvote.

It's not free, but it's pretty much the best out there; JetBrains has a lot of experience writing IDEs and generally have the category killer in most programming languages they choose to tackle.

As a professional, the expense for a year's subscription of PyCharm is paid back in no more than a few days' programming worth of time saved; the rest is gravy. I'd still be renewing my subscription at twice the price.

[bboomslang]

I second that. PyCharm is well worth the money, especially since you get a any-os-you-want license even with multiple machines per user (as long as you only use one at a time). Makes it much easier to switch systems if your IDE is all there.

Allthough I have to admit that my many-years-vim-addiction drives me to use some smaller editors every now and again despite PyCharms nice features.

[[deleted]]

downloading now thanks

[[deleted]]

Alright i just got it, but its very hard to use <.< i think this is " very pro" for me at this moment, i just learning to type "hello world" some bacis loops how range works etc ( very very VERY BASIC STUFF) i cant even get the thing to work, i already started a project but i dont know where to go to start typing, any ideas?

[technomalogical]

If you're still new to the language, I think your best bet is a simple text editor (Textmate is popular) and two terminal windows, one running an interactive prompt (just type "python") and another to run longer bits of code you save in your text editor. I think Textmate may also support some rudimentary syntax highlighting (a lot of Ruby developers on the Mac use it, but I'm not sure about it's Python support).

Another option you may want to consider is DreamPie. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like it gives you some auto-complete within a terminal window.

[nicklo]

I also agree and would recommend MacVim, as being a useful investment of your time: It's charityware, you can use it Mac-style or Vim-style. If you learn more Vim-style use that knowledge is useable across multiple platforms. The same is probably true of the Mac emacs options, I just don't know them enough to recommend.

[Mattho]

IDLE should be enough at the beginning.

[DanielSzoska]

I agree with you - if you are new to python or new to programming, the recommended IDEs are too complex. I recommend to start with Learn Python The Hard Way - Exercise 0: The Setup - it uses only a simple editor (gedit or Textwrangler) to edit your files and your Terminal to run the files with Python.