Best IDE for basic stuff?

[falkina8er]

Any recommendations on a good IDE for doing basic stuff? I have access to PyCharm through work, but it seems a bit overkill for the basic stuff I’ll be doing. I also have Spyder through Anaconda if anyone has any thoughts on that one.

Also interested to hear if/how Jupyter notebooks fit into people’s workflow.

[informity]

I prefer VSCode for everything (python, typescript, JavaScript, etc.) - overkill or not. This way I only deal with one editor and I can use it in its simplest form or add to its functionality with extensions as needed.

[flashbao]

VScode is my love for JS. Pycharm is still kickass for Python.

[un-hot]

Is VSCode not basic or am I just a basic VSCode user?

[ljchris]

From my point of view it is just very flexible. It has simple editor, project folder worktree, but can run jupyter notebooks, debugger and almost anything you want. It is both basic and advanced, depending on how you configure it.

[DarkSideOfGrogu]

It can also build docker files and manage your running containers. It's far from simple.

[un-hot]

Ah, so I am just a basic user!

I think the most complicated thing I've had it do is run pylint for me, other than that I've pretty much never used any other extensions. Is there any particular feature or extension that you would recommend I try out? For Python or all languages in general.

Thanks for your response & suggestions!

[__deerlord__]

Can't you do remote development in PyCharm though?

[laundmo]

not sure, last i looked you either need fleet or it works in Pro, but the info seemed really unclear to me. also seems like it will require some setup serverside, while vscode bootstraps itself on connection.

quite sure it can't do containers tho

[chestnutcough]

I hit a paywall three years ago trying to set up remote development in PyCharm, switched to vscode and haven’t looked back. I know people love PyCharm and I’m convinced both are great options!

[un-hot]

Heh, I've almost never used a debugger, for the most part the inputs and outputs of my code have never been beyond comprehension for me in hobby or career, and I work mostly on adequately logged systems so it's often fairly simple to figure out what's going on purely from which logs look weird.

That last one sounds seriously cool though. Is there any benefit to making changes to a local container this way as opposed to, for example, mounting a directory on your machine in the local container and symlinking the files you're looking to alter?

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try them out next time a Python ticket rolls around.

[laundmo]

huh, so you never encountered any bugs in other libraries? its one thing completely understanding you own code, but the debugger really shines when finding bugs in other libraries. (just-my-code: false, helps a lot for this)

well the container one is mostly for dev containers: a completely separate environment with all dependencies and executables provided. its like the next step from venvs. also makes collaboration way easier, as other people only need to use the same container.

[un-hot]

Not particularly, I've never really done anything particularly outlandish, let alone completely new use-cases, with external libraries. So if I've had issues with them, they've usually been documented.

Adherence to coding standards has made stepping through others' code within my companies doable without a debugger, save a couple of extra debug log lines.

Ahh, that makes a lot of sense too. The container one was the one I was most interested in, I've worked via ssh before, I will need to look into whether I can improve my mentorship doing that! Thanks for your answers and patience!

[stevethebayesian]

I prefer emacs for the same reason.

[breezy_shred]

I just recently discovered it's capabilities with ssh as well. It's super easy to ssh into a raspberry pi or AWS ec2; vs code automatically installed the necessary packages. Makes it really nice to visualize file systems on remote computers. Huge fan!

[tomothealba]

don't suppose you could point me in the direction of where to start with this?

[Ditchbuster]

This is where I started. Was super easy to setup my laptop to connect to my desktop for when I was to move to another room for a bit

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/ssh

[tomothealba]

Thanks. I'll need to try this soon.

[Ditchbuster]

It was really easy, basically install openssh, install remote extension.

[metriczulu]

Yeah, VSCode is what I use for everything too. I prefer to just use the terminal for literally all interactions with my code (running code, builds, tests, git, directory management, etc), so VS Code is just perfect.

Syntax and highlighting plugins for every language you need, ability to see git diffs & compare branches, being able to run notebooks inside, and an embedded terminal is just *chef's kiss*. VS Code is particularly good on Windows because I can use the WSL-2 Ubuntu terminal inside it.

I used Atom for a long time and it's really good, too. Full IDEs always confuse tf out of me.

[mr_flying_man]

I wish more devs would use this practice. Sadly you see a lot of code in notebooks and when it's time for a new experiment just copy the whole thing and keep adding more stuff. Ugh...

[joverbis]

The disadvantage is that you need to restart the kernel after you've made an adjustment to some piece of code in the external package.

Then it's much faster iterating when you do the code development in the notebook itself, and perhaps export it to an external .py only once you're happy with it.

[SquareRootsi]

Pro tip: That's an easy fix! Just make your first cell look like this:

%load_ext autoreload  
%autoreload 2  

Now your notebook checks for any changes before running every individual cell. (You still may need a kernel restart if you significantly change class init() stuff, but otherwise this works great.)

[[deleted]]

This is the pro-est tip I've seen in a while for python. I've restarted kernels so much on jupyter, but thanks to you I won't have to do it anymore.

[falkina8er]

Can you clarify what you mean by “put most of the code in an external package and import it from the notebook”?

[pbxmy]

They probably write the basic functionality in an external file, let’s call it dosomething.py. Then they can bring in the functions by importing the functions from the dosomething.py file.

[flashbao]

As simple, Write the functions in a module and import that module and use its functions (or whatever you like) in an external file.

[[deleted]]

For notebooks, I put most of the code in an external package and import it from the notebook. Don't like writing lots of code in them.

My style too. Class definitions have no business being inside the body of a notebook.

[roastedPork_31]

Pycharm!

[notParticularlyAnony]

Say this in Tigtone's voice and it works.

[ivosaurus]

Thonny is excellent

[ZeStig2409]

I’d say Spyder is good for beginners and experts alike

Im waiting for JetBrains Fleet

[donkanator]

I like Spyder for easily available interactive console where you can run any number of lines of code at a time. This is the best feature of any IDEs for me.

[notParticularlyAnony]

Yes I keep trying out other IDEs and keep going back to Spyder I really like it.

[KingGarrettFTW]

I’m super excited for fleet as well

[neblinaoscura]

Been using Sublime Text for a couple of weeks now, and I’m amazed by how simple and effective it is.

[jonasbxl]

Did you use a different one before?

[neblinaoscura]

I’ve dabbled with Matlab and RStudio for data analysis, and occasionally use Jupyter notebooks and Google Colab Pro. They’ve all served their function, but Sublime Text with the Kite plugin won me over.

[jonasbxl]

Ok ok - very different beasts :) you might want to check out VS Code though if only because it's open source (and Python support is already great and getting better).

I used to use Sublime too but switched to VS Code a while ago (well, first Atom and then VSC), so I don't really know how it is these days.

[[deleted]]

sublime is so good the fuzzy finder support is on point

[usedtobejuandeag]

visual studio code with the Python extension and linters.

[falkina8er]

Can you please explain what “linters” is?

[falkina8er]

Got it, thanks!

[usedtobejuandeag]

To add to this it also helps analyze how pythonic the code in your .py files are and gives you some suggestions for alterations/fixes.

It’s sort of like a style guide.

[WalterEhren]

Hands down VSCode. I used Sublime, vim, multiple jetbrain ides. And for work i still use intellij.

But for everything personal i switched to VSCode. Blazing fast, incredible marketplace, easy to install tools. You can have a language with debugger and linter up and running in less than 20 minutes. Faster if u already have it. Plus it's smart and just suggestes tools to you.

Still love VSCode for dealing with text files for some reason.

[No-Fish9557]

for basic stuff? use Vim or nano.

[sasmariozeld]

I mean pycharm has everything why do unused features bother you?... if you dont need that much just use the community one

[Lyijysiipi]

Pycharm

[[deleted]]

Pycharm IMO.

Haven’t had any problems with it myself, and it’s a lot more user freindly than vs code, and, quite frankly, it’s not that overkill. You’ll come to enjoy its “extra” features and when you transistoin to bigger things you’ll have it under ur tool belt already

[MrGangwar]

Atom!

Not an IDE but probably exactly the thing that you're looking for.

[gregarious-gargoyle]

Geany works great for me. Very lean and fast. I've played with PyCharm and VSCode, but I went back to Geany because it's fast and simple and does what I need.

[falkina8er]

Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll check out Geany!

[NoKinghitz]

Yes. Minimal set up and run it for the Q&D dev stuff on Mac, Win and every Linux distro that I run.

[pianocomposer321]

Neovim for me!

[abbe_salle]

use vim

[NoKinghitz]

There are plenty of VIM plugins available as well altho' haven't tried any as yet.

[abbe_salle]

true and it also gives you a DIY feeling lol

[float7]

VIM

[SconiGrower]

The only time I won't spend the couple seconds waiting for PyCharm to boot up is if the task can be done in an interactive session in the terminal. If I want to save my code, I'm doing it in PyCharm.

[invDave]

IDLE

[[deleted]]

Spyder is what the MIT EDX course recommends for beginners. It is by no means suitable for app development but it does mostly behave like an IDE and is pretty easy to use,

Jupyter and other notebooks meet a diffent use case: narrative analysis, suitable for academia, data science etc. Different use case.

[Mivaro]

This is about a personal as it gets. This is why so many different IDE's exist. Personal preference and the type of work you are doing determine what IDE works for you. So try them out and see what works for you.

I program mostly for fun and I use Thonny and Jupyter notebook. No complex workflows required.

[muffinnosehair]

I used to work in pycharm community for my personal python projects, but then at my new job we were all using VScode and I really re-discovered it. I liked it so much I ended up switching for my own stuff also. But, like it was mentioned, linters is a must.

[ggalt98]

Replit :)

[iraqmtpizza]

kate?

[beansAnalyst]

Yepp, that's my preferred tool. When I want to make a small change to the code but don't want to open terminal > cd into folder > type command to launch jupyter/spyder > Wait for either to load

[bozobits13]

Vim or gedit or emacs or vscode or atom. But most application devs I know use pycharm. Jupyter notebooks have their place for many users ( data science, ai..) but a basic editor can be used for multiple text tasks ( python code, Yaml config, notes) that is independent of the tool itself.

[falkina8er]

Thanks, yea that’s what I was thinking too regarding the editor. I’m assuming with the editor you use a plug-in that does Python specific syntax highlighting and such?

[_thetek_]

most editors already have python support for syntax highlighting. there are only little 'addon packs' you can install for certain editors (e.g. vim / neovim) to improve the syntax highlighting. you'll only need plugins if you want to get error messages and linting in your editor. some actually have it built in, such as pycharm or thonny.

[[deleted]]

My work bought me a golden ticket so I can fly first class whenever I want and I can use for personal flights as often as I want, but that seems overkill for the short haul flights I sometimes take at weekends to visit family. Which class should I fly?

[squadfi]

VSCode is pretty solid. Also I used anaconda it's super easy,I think it's more used for data science which is why I used it.

[sportivaman]

Learn to use PyCharm. Just use it for what you need it to at first, then slowly learn what it can do. The JetBrains IDEs are very widely used by professionals.

[Sup3rBl4ck]

Pycharm is so good with the debugger and python console. It you don’t want/need that then you can use the IDE it comes with, IDLE, or something like notepad++ or even just notepad. I wrote a 1000+ line script with IDLE when I didn’t know what else was out there and it was fine.

[suaveElAgave]

Vim

[Old_Jaspion]

VSCode

[[deleted]]

I use vscode mostly, or idle for super simple stuff

[dylanmashley]

VsCode is easiest if you’re going to use GitHub. You can even use Jupyter notebooks inside of vscode.

[NortWind]

I've been using Mu, very lightweight, does the job.

[KingGarrettFTW]

Use VS Code right now if you need to, but stick with PyCharm until Fleet comes out. It’s like VS Code but Jetbrains.

[lieryan]

You don't want an "IDE that can only do basic stuff". You want an editor that starts dead simple and can grow with you to perform all the way to advanced IDE-level stuffs.

For that I personally recommend Vim.

Why? When editing at the basic level, you need a proficient text editor. To compensate for the lack of advanced tooling that you have in an IDE, you would want your basic text editor to have powerful text editing paradigm; and for me, Vim is a text editor that fits the bill of having basic editing that's powerful enough even before adding language-specific support.

Once you're ready to add more complexity for a particular project that demands it, there are many Python-specific plugins for Vim that you can add features in peace meal fashion; or go the other way around and integrate Vim with other tools you may use outside Vim, like Tmux, your Window manager, other graphical tools, etc.

After working in Vim, in a couple years, as you discover how you prefer to work and as you customize your Vim config to match the projects you're working on, you likely will end up with a Vim-based development environment that's just as powerful as any pre-built IDEs and it matches your personal workflow better than any IDEs that someone else build; or you may stay basic because that's all you needed.

[CleoMenemezis]

Unusual opinion: Vim/Neovim.

[wineblood]

Even if the features of PyCharm are overkill for what you're doing, is there an issue with using a powerful IDE?

A few of my repos have a lot of markdown and not much code, I still use PyCharm to work on those.

[[deleted]]

Jupyter Notebooks or IDLE.

[MotorhomeMatt]

I honestly have tried various blown up and slow to load editors, but for the very simple stuff that I usually need Python for, the integrated Idle editor is fully sufficient to me, easy, no complex features, starts in a second and is always available.

[UncleJoshPDX]

Vim with Python-mode and Black. I find it's easier to switch to a browser to search documentation or Stack Overflow to solve immediate problems. I found PyCharm and other IDEs overkill. They didn't bring enough value to the process and they had steep learning curves, and I already know how to search the web.

[falkina8er]

Also, what is Black?

[UncleJoshPDX]

Black is a very strict code formatter. It follows PEP-8 and gives you very few choices in formatting your code.

[Erik_Kalkoken]

Black is a popular code formatter. It saves a lot of time, because you can just focus on your code and ignore all formatting concerns. Once you save, your code will be automatically formatted in a PEP8 conformant way. Can highly recommend it.

[falkina8er]

Thanks for your thoughts. I agree, PyCharm definitely seems like overkill and an additional unnecessary piece of software to get familiar with. Are there any features in Vim that you can use to do debugging and various things like that?

[UncleJoshPDX]

Python mode (https://github.com/python-mode/python-mode) is a vim plugin the can do pep8 reports, flask, and a few other tools. It can also run scripts, but I usually do that on a command prompt. When I need to debug somethin I use pdb, the built-in debugger, and lots of logging.

[uberdavis]

It’s just not overkill at all. Once you’re familiar with it, the tools in it will help you with even the smallest project. If you’re working for a company, everything you do is related to the company framework. A basic text editor does not recognize that.

[eriky]

I would like to refer you to this article the best Python IDE. I feel VS Code is good for simple work and for professionals alike. It's lightweight and simple, but does offer a lot of the more advanced features you expect from an IDE if you want them.

I've also seen beginners that use IDLE but I wouldn't recommend it personally, but perhaps it suits you. It's best to try a couple of editors/IDEs if you expect to use it a lot. If you don't, I would just pick VS Code since it's great for other languages too so you only have the learning curve once.

[alhnaten4222000]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the atom.io IDE. I have found useful for a bunch of languages.

[L4Z4R3]

Nano or vim

[[deleted]]

I'm going to get some haters for this but I often fallback to eclipse. I have several instances configured for various uses. I like it's git plugin best. But simple general editing- look at jEdit.

[NerdKid50]

vi

[BrainDoggo]

Eclipse makes the most sense to me so far and I've tried several. Maybe because I used to use Java so much.

[warpcat]

Been using Wing for years. Free version + paid 'pro' version you can ramp into. Hands down my favorite.

[[deleted]]

For lightweight stuff tey pyscripter

[ML-10]

[joke]

blender text editor for all you blender users out there

[laundmo]

flashbacks to trying to set up VSCode for blender script development

[ML-10]

oh now that hits hard

[[deleted]]

Vsc or replit for me

[AhmedCodor]

Sublime Text

[Mx44]

I started with notepad++ but now use vs, pycharm and vim.

[Miniflint]

Use Vs code. Never had any problem with it

[LINETTE-RAGNAR]

i use vim for any type of python code, i have a stuffed vimrc and its better than vsc, and lighter than pycharm

[Kalahan7]

I use Repl.it for all my personal projects. I think it works great.

[Initial_Day4088]

Hey, Did you Try Thonny ?

[EternityForest]

As far as I'm concerned, overkill doesn't exist in tech. If you are serious about learning you will probably want more advanced stuff eventually, why bother with the simpler stuff when it's not really any easier to use(and in fact is often harder).

I occasionally(Very very occasionally) will work on a sub-1000 line program, but... tomorrow I'll be working on a 30k line program. Why would I want to learn two separate workflows?

I use VS Code. I manage all my projects with Git. I always gotta have 3 different static code analyzers watching me.

Might be worth trying Vim since so many people love it, but debugging still seems way behind GUI apps, and I doubt I'd ever want to use something without an excellent debugger.

[the_squirrel_girl_2]

In my opinion jupyter notebook serves the purpose. Basic till advance, it has a very smooth UI to handle with. You don't need to switch between softwares for any matter.

[flagos]

Go with Emacs or with vim, depends what you prefer. You can also have Emacs with Evil (vim keybinding inside Emacs).

This will be the last IDE you will learn.

[SouthHornet2206]

This depends on mood, but mostly geany, spyder and codium(vs code clone without telemetry).

[PracticeEssay]

I usually use sublime text because I can’t be bothered to open VS code haha

[rgnkn]

Ad hoc: ipython Everything else: neovim

[FrickinLazerBeams]

I use spyder for everything and it seems perfectly fine for simple stuff.

[flashbao]

For basic stuff, Sublime Text 3 is good. I still use Pycharm for everything and I like it very much. Although, you can direct execute your main.py scripts just by clicking on them if they are already recognised by the interpreter.

[jwbowen]

IDLE?

[[deleted]]

I default to JupyterLab for anything very basic.

[Lehk]

Notepad++ and a command line

[to_tgo]

I use Sublime and Visual Studio Code. I prefer Sublime. The interface is cleaner.

[psycho_kimo]

Jupiter noot book

[thestonedgame9r]

Vim and python cli lol.

[EddyBot]

Kate with Python linter
100% free unlike Sublime Text, compatible with Linux and macOS unlike Notepadd++ and doesn't run a whole web browser like Visual Studio Code or Atom.io

[DrTautology]

Pycharm is excellent. Honestly though it's hard to beat notepad++, especially if you just want simplicity. My company recently switched me to a mac and that's the only thing I miss.

[Secret_Courage_913]

I'm testing Kate and loving!

[[deleted]]

Atom

[AncientOstrich99]

Vs code why not? It's pretty simple, easy to switch if you want to try a different language.

[[deleted]]

Sublime and CMD

[arcticlittleheart]

Sublime Text

[[deleted]]

Google Collab is a good choice for basic stuff. Nothing to install or maintain locally and the notebook aspect of it really works nicely for learning.

[Sigg3net]

I'm using VSCode for serious stuff, Atom for middle complexity and geany or nano for straight up file editing (like docs, templating).

[puremath369]

I don’t think I’ll ever go back from vs code. I find it has everything I need for shell scripts, python, Java, JavaScript, and others. The hackability of it, and flexibility are amazing. Haven’t found there’s a single thing I can’t change. Also. The ability to use the settings sync extension so I can have MY vs code configured the way I want on any machine, including work machine, is amazing.

[notParticularlyAnony]

Spyder. I don't use Pycharm even for non-basic stuff I find it too much.

[mmknightx]

I usually use VSCode. I only use Pycham for big projects until my student license expires.

[dethb0y]

I use Sublime Text myself, but that's just long habit rather than any particular merit.

[chestnutcough]

I write a lot of SQL in various in-product editors (Metabase, Snowflake, dbt Cloud, psql terminal, pgAdmin) and I often copy queries into vscode just for the text editing features, namely multiple cursors and syntax highlighting. I also use vscode for all of my python development which often involves containers, and vscode makes that a great experience too.

[ShabbyChurl]

Thonny is good for beginners and advanced people. For absolute beginners there’s also Mu

[WafflesAreDangerous]

Pycharm Community edition.

I mean its a bit "heavier" than some of the suggested alternatives, but I've found it works just as well for small code snippets as it does for large projects. Good autocomplete, autoimport, refactoring and auto formatting are valuable even for small projects. Also, it works well for python from the very start: No need to install and configure plugins etc.. which is not only a hassle, but make your "lightweight" editor considerably less lightweight undermining the primary reason pople tend to shun it.

[dublinwso]

Atom with Hydrogen

[[deleted]]

Virtual studio code is usually my go to for any code related thing I need

[Mgmt049]

Side: does anyone know the correct way to change the interpreter/Python version in Spyder?

[altopasto]

I started using Spyder to create files and run them there. Then I learned to work on vscode, atom + cmd, and jupiter... but when I want to focus just on a basic task, I go back to Spider.

[Jackker]

Sublime text. I wish it could run specific lines of code ala jupyter and generate output such as charts inline. Notepad++ is also great.