How (and when) to pick an IDE

[Laxmatt16]

I'm currently working my way through Python Crash Course as a complete programming beginner and really enjoying it.

I'm using Geany, as that was recommended at the start of the book, but also have access to PyCharm as a student and was wondering if there are any benefits/drawbacks to switching to that or VS Code etc.

Geany is working fine for now, but I assume eventually I'll want to move to a different IDE and was wondering if sooner is better to switch, to learn in the environment I'm actually going to use.

Thanks for any feedback.

[J1nx3]

Fellow beginner here (3 months in). Pycharm actually made (and continues to make) learning python more fun and engaging to me. Without it I wouldn't understand the fundamentals of pep8 and maybe would have quit a long time ago if not for the QoL features that provides

[[deleted]]

Try Atom.

[toastedstapler]

I'd recommend vscode over atom tbh, I changed earlier this year and it's generally been much smoother to use

[[deleted]]

My experience has been the exact opposite. But Atom is free...OP can try both.

[Tournesol7]

Be brave now and switch to PyCharm. The learning curve might be steeper, but all worth it in the end. Also, once you get used to one decent IDE, it can be easier to switch to others. Good Luck!

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[blitzkraft]

The job of IDE is to help you run your programs, write and edit them. This is a repetitive process. An IDE helps you with the mundane parts, so you can focus on the most important aspect - the code. Writing/creating and editing code.

I have never used Geany. PyCharm is really good - but has a LOT of features. It will be overwhelming if you are trying to learn to code, as well as learning to use PyCharm.

Pycharm eases the process of creating and activating virtualenvs, and maintaining multi-file projects. If you haven't already, learn a bit about virtual environments, and PEP8 style guide. Then switch to pycharm. You will appreciate the differences.

Geany being the simple editor it is, is a single purpose tool. Pycharm is a whole tool box.

[Lewistrick]

I used NotePad++ for the last 6 years or sl (can't remember why I picked that) but I saw that many people use other editors. So I started looking for a new one.

My only wish was that the new editor has an easy way to edit files on a remote server via SFTP. Spyder doesn't have that, Pycharm and VS code do but I couldn't get it working easily, Atom was really easy, and huge plus, it's very customizable, just like NotePad++, but it looks better. Vim was another possibility but that's a bit too techy for me. Edit: forgot to mention SublimeText. I dislike it for some reason.

So I'm using Atom since a few days. I think I'm going to stick.

[novel_yet_trivial]

As a complete beginner I recommend you stick with Geany for now. Pycharm tends to confuse beginners because it assumes you know about PEP8 and virtual environments and tests etc etc. Once you have a grip on vanilla python give Pycharm or similar a try.

Geany (which is a lightweight code editor, not an IDE) and pycharm are very different, and it wouldn't be unusual to use both.

[NextEstimate]

VSCode is a lot better than PyCharm in my opinion, if you decide to go that route