What is the best Integrated Development Environment for Python?

Python is an excellent language to get started with if you are new to the world of programming. There are Python interpreters available for use on a variety of operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. But what is the best Integrated Development Environment for python available?

Python is one of the primary programming languages used to automate particular types of repetitive jobs. It was initially released in 1991 by its founder, Guido van Rossum.

Due to the efforts of many developers and programmers, the language has made significant progress. And during its evolution, many Integrated Development Environments, commonly known as IDEs, became valuable tools for developers to improve their coding and debugging. We compiled the top 10 best options available, both free and paid ones. And also, we listed the pros and cons of each tool so you can decide which one is better for you.

Visual Studio Code

Licence: Free

Let’s start with the most famous IDE of all. Visual Studio Code, or VS Code for short, is a popular source code editor among programmers. It’s quick, light, and strong all at the same time! Microsoft created VSC as a cross-platform code editor for developing online and cloud applications. MS revealed it for the first time on April 29, during the 2015 Build Conference in San Francisco. VSC was published under the MIT license a few months later, on November 18, 2015, and the source code was made accessible on GitHub. VSC was launched on the web on April 14, 2016.

Unlike many other code editors, Visual Studio Code has an in-built debugger, making the development flow less ‘clicky’ and keeping the code and debugger in a single view. That makes issue tracking and code run-throughs easier and faster. You don’t need numerous displays to run the various consoles and rearrange them whenever you need to minimize something. It’s incorporated into the design and the layout of your ideal workstation.

There is also IntelliSense, although it is incorporated into the code editor. IntelliSense uses predictive coding. You may extend this further with ready-made boiler-plates by adding framework, library, and/or language plugin extensions. It is undoubtedly one of the best integrated development environments for Python.

Pros of VS Code

• It works on all systems, including Windows, Linux, and Mac.
• It is light since it does not require much room.
• Because VS Code is free, it is available to all programmers and even companies.
• It supports desktop apps and offers an amazing website technology tool.
• VS Code supports many programming languages.
• It saves a lot of effort by writing the left code automatically.
• It provides syntax markers for nearly all programming languages.
• It features various plug-in extensions, which increase functionality.
• It is widely documented in terms of setup in various contexts.

Cons of VS Code

• You usually need to install many plugins to make it a full-featured tool for development.

Pycharm

License: Free and paid

PyCharm is a professional-level and of the best integrated development environment for Python programming language development. It has a robust capability that enables the most recent development techniques right out of the box.

This option allows you to modify how PyCharm executes your application. PyCharm has several interpreters, and the Run/Debug configuration will let you choose which interpreter to use for your code. Each configuration setting includes environment variables, Python interpreter, and working directory options.

Smart code completion, code inspections, automatic code restructuring, an integrated debugger, and a test runner are all included in PyCharm Community Edition. It simplifies working on huge tasks.

It works with both Python 2 and Python 3. And also:

• CoffeeScript
• JavaScript
• Mark-up languages such as XML, HTML, and XHTML

Pycharm is the most well-known IDE for working with Python code. It includes numerous Python interpreters that can assist in working with Python 2 and Python 3. PyCharm is a free tool that focuses mostly on Python code, but it also comes in a professional edition that allows you to utilize all of the programming and mark-up languages listed above.

Pros of Pycharm

• PyCharm is simple to use and set up.
• Syntax and error maintenance. It can aid in the analysis of syntax errors even before compiling your code, reducing any cost.
• Language injections allow you to utilize the result of a function, variable values, or any object within a template string that may be injected into an HTML tag for further use.
• Import help can be used to import missing libraries from another portion of the project.
• Depending on the context, code completion allows you to complete the names of classes, methods, arguments, and other variables.
• PyCharm has a number of plug-ins that may be used to enhance your project.
• It has a large community that can assist you if you run into any problems.

Cons of Pycharm

• The biggest downside of using PyCharm is that it takes up more space than other text editors, which reduces code functionality.
• The community version is restricted to Python development and does not permit the use of other programming languages.
• The professional version is a little pricey.
• Setting a virtual environment variable might be difficult for novices, thus they may avoid using it.

Eclipse

License: Free and Paid

Eclipse is a free Integrated Development Environment built mainly for Java development teams. But it is also a cross-platform solution. Eclipse is compatible with various languages, including C, C++, ABAP, Ada, Haskell, Lasso, C#, Julia, JavaScript, Perl, Fortran, Ruby, Rust, Scheme, Groovy, Erlang, Clojure, and of course, Python. It supports both desktop and cloud-based installations. Its open-source nature allows developers to customize the program and create a full-featured framework for deeply integrated tools. XML editing, code suggestion, Git version management, Eclipse market, Gradle support, and other capabilities are also included.

Eclipse is a revolutionary integrated development environment that is compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux computers. It provides an extendable system and a centralized workplace with great flexibility. The Marketplace Client component of the program allows you to tweak and enhance its capacity, tailoring it to your specific development needs. You may construct your own Plugin Development Environment or combine several elements to create a reliable online IDE.

Pros of Eclipse

• Pydev is an Eclipse plugin that turns Eclipse into a Python IDE that also supports Jython and IronPython. Pydev provides code completion and code analysis by utilizing powerful inference techniques. The IDE also includes the debugger, Django, an interactive console, minimal syntax highlighting, code coverage, and other capabilities. It is one of the greatest Python Ide and Python Editor available.
• Pydev is open-source, platform-independent, and encourages great compatibility with the Eclipse ecosystem. Python programming on Eclipse has become nearly similar to Java development on Eclipse, making the experience much more stunning and extraordinary, thanks to the work of the developers and the growth of technology.

Cons of Eclipse

• Eclipse may be a plugin nightmare at times. For various reasons, distinct plugins require different versions of the same plugin to be running. The same plugins that operate in the main Eclipse version do not work in all cases. This may be pretty irritating.
• The IDE has a large number of plugins, many of which are incompatible, and you can only know when you use the IDE, leading it to become unstable.

Sublime Text

License: Free and Paid

Sublime Text is a cross-platform, proprietary text editor program designed for anyone searching for a simple but effective coding tool. The platform appears to be devoid of any setup dialogs or toolbars. It is extremely quick, and easy to set up, and these are only a few of its features. Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor with features such as auto-completion, plugin support, and many others.

Sublime Text works well for beginners right away and can be expanded with many of the features provided by an IDE like PyCharm as a developer’s skill level increases.
Because Sublime Text plugins are written in Python, our ecosystem can easily tweak the editor. Hence, it is one of the most famous integrated development environments for Python.

Pros of Sublime Text

Sublime is fast, like blazing fast. Unlike other code editors that are notable for their power and plug-ins, Sublime Text is notable for its simplicity and ease of use, making it possible for users to begin using it and thus begin their journey into the world of software development. At first glance, it has a reasonably simple and easy-to-understand interface, making it a valuable ally for anyone just getting started with coding.

The color themes that it comes with are really attractive, and it has a fair level of clarity, both of which helped prevent eye strain even during long sessions of coding.

Cons of Sublime Text

The same simplicity that distinguishes it also penalizes and prevents most users from continuing to use it when they want to construct more complex software with much more rigid designs.

It is an excellent ally for people who wish to write software without much assistance and in a conventional manner, but when compared to other code editors, it falls short in terms of customization and features.

It also doesn’t have a built-in debugger compared to its competitors.

When it comes to integrating third-party tools, such as git tracking and additional toolbars and modules, some other editors are more user-friendly than others.

Wing Python IDE

License: Paid
Wing is a lightweight yet full-featured Python integrated development environment created exclusively for Python, with comprehensive editing, code inspection, testing, and debugging features. Wing’s deep code analysis includes auto-completion, auto-editing, and refactoring to accelerate development. Its excellent debugger works with any Python code, either locally or on a remote host. Wing also enables test-driven development, version control, UI color, and layout modification, and comes with substantial documentation and support.

Pros of Wing

Wing provides auto-completion, call suggestions, code documentation, goto-definition, locate uses, refactoring, and many more capabilities using static and runtime code analysis. The editor also allows for code inspection, PEP8 enforcement, new block indentation management, and auto-entry of invocation parameters.

Cons of Wing

• Themes are not very well defined and getting a dark theme is hard.
• The price after the 30-day trial is considered to be costly for lots of developers.
• When the file size is significant, performing column-by-column editing can be a little bit of a chore.

IDLE

Licence: Free

Every Python installation includes an Integrated Development and Learning Environment, abbreviated as IDLE. These are programs that help you write code more efficiently. While there are several IDEs to select from, Python IDLE is fairly basic, making it ideal for a starting coder.

Python IDLE is included with Python installs on Windows and Mac. If you’re a Linux user, you should be able to discover and download Python IDLE using your package manager. After you’ve installed it, you may use Python IDLE as an interactive interpreter or a file editor.

Pros of IDLE

• When IDLE needs to start a new block, it will automatically indent your code. This frequently occurs after typing a colon (:). When you press the enter key after the colon, your cursor will move a certain amount of spaces and begin a new code block.
• When developing code for a large project or a complex problem, you may easily waste a lot of time just typing out all of the code you require. Code completion saves you time by attempting to finish your code for you. To utilize autocompletion in the editor, simply hit the tab key after a text sequence.
• Call hints will also be provided by Python IDLE. A call tip is a clue for a specific area of your code that will assist you recall what that element requires. If you don’t do anything for a few seconds after typing the left parenthesis to begin a function call, a call hint will show.

Cons of IDLE

• Python IDLE supports rudimentary code completion. It can only autocomplete function and class names.
• Although it is a good starting tool for beginners, it may lack additional functionalities for more experienced python developers.

GNU/Emacs

Licence: Free

Emacs is a powerful, flexible, customisable, and self-documenting editor. Because it is an old editor that was created long before contemporary computer practices and terminology (for example, you “visit” a file instead of “opening” it, and you “write” instead of “save,” and so on), Emacs is sometimes seen as difficult and even strange. However, as experience has proven, once you understand the basics, you may have a strong, efficient, and incredibly integrated development environment for Python.

Pros of Emacs

• Emacs has considerably more extensions to let you do tasks that are only vaguely text-editor related, like browsing the filesystem or messing with version control, and extensions that are in no way text-editor related, like reading RSS feeds.
• Asynchronous subprocess interaction. When you start a long compilation and wish to do something else within the same editor instance while the compiler is churning, this is the option to use. Or if you need to communicate with a Read-eval-print loop , Emacs excels at this.

Cons of Emacs

• Steep learning curve
• Pair programming is tough due of the high customizability.
• Documentation is dispersed, and some of it is out of date.
• There are too many package repositories.

Thonny

Licence: Free

Thonny is a free Python Integrated Development Environment (IDE) created with novice Python developers in mind. It contains a built-in debugger that can aid when you run into ugly issues, and it allows you to step through expression evaluation, among other extremely cool features.

Pros of Thonny

• It has auto completion feature
• It examines code in order to offer bracket matching and indicate problems.
• Thonny is simple to get started because its installer also installs Python 3.7.
• Debugger is simple to use since no breakpoint knowledge is required.
• Allows users to step into a function call by displaying the code pointer and providing information about local variables.
• It features a simple interface for installing packages. This makes it ideal for novices.

Cons of Thonny

• In comparison to other powerful IDEs, it provides rudimentary capabilities.
• Users may experience difficulties for which there is no easy cure.

Spyder

Licence: Free

Spyder is a cross-platform open-source IDE. The Python Spyder IDE is entirely developed in Python. It was created by scientists and is only available to scientists, data analysts, and engineers. It is also known as the Scientific Python Development IDE, and it offers a plethora of noteworthy features, which are explained further below. But is it the best integrated development environment for Python? Let’s see:

Pros of Spyder

• Syntax Highlighting using Variables
• Breakpoints are available (debugging and conditional breakpoints)
• Interactive execution allows you to run a line, file, cell, and so forth.
• Configurations for working directory choices, command-line arguments, current/dedicated/external console, and so on are executed.
• The Outline Explorer may be used to navigate among cells, functions, blocks, and so on.
• It allows for real-time code inspection (The ability to examine what functions, keywords, and classes are, what they are doing and what information they contain)
• After if, while, and so forth, a colon is automatically inserted.
• All IPython magic instructions are supported.
• Matplotlib-generated visuals are displayed inline.
• Help, file explorer, search files, and other functions are also available.

Cons of Spyder

• It is not very customizable.
• It’s more basic than its counterparts

Vim

Some consider VIM to be a code/text editor, not an IDE.

The fact is that Vim makes you more productive by requiring you to use just the keyboard (no mouse!) and then gives you the opportunity to use current keyboard shortcuts as well as customize and create new ones for efficiently accomplishing repetitive activities. It uses a .vimrc, which is just a plain old text file that Vim processes every time it’s launched, and it includes all of the shortcuts and configurations that make your Vim editor unique to you. Vim’s versatility to be customized to your typing demands is what allows it to shred text at the speed of thought.

Pros of Vim

• When compared to competing graphical editors such as Atom and Sublime, Vim is significantly faster and lighter. It just takes up a fragment of the system’s RAM and loads instantly.
• Vim has a thriving and nearly limitless plugin ecosystem. There are plugins for almost everything, from file management to version control to color palettes. If you require something, there is almost always a plugin for it.
• Vim is not only free and open-source, but it is also accessible for all systems in either terminal or GUI mode. It also works through SSH in the terminal.
• Configuration portability – Once we’ve customized Vim to our needs, we can take our.vimrc or init.vim to any system and have the same experience across all machines.
• Mouse-free, keyboard-based interface— There is no need to use the mouse again. With almost 200 text editing functions, everything is just a key press or two away. Vim does support the mouse, but it is built such that you do not need to use it for maximum efficiency.

Cons of Vim

• Difficult learning curve. Learning all of the commands and modes available by Vim has a high learning curve. So you’ll have to spend additional time fine-tuning parameters to your specific requirements.
• High customization effort. There is always something that can be improved or adjusted.
• Poor support for external tools. Many plugins rely on optional Python functionality that may or may not be present in the machine’s binary.
• Poor Feature Discoverability. Despite the fact that fundamental functions such as syntax checking, autocompletion, and file management are all accessible out of the box or with minimum configuration, this is not clear. The assistance is extremely well written, but it’s difficult to figure out where to get documentation for these features.
• Doesn’t work well with the system’s cut/paste methods. There are frequently challenges with accessing the system clipboard to copy and paste material from external programs.

Conclusion

You can always determine which IDE to use based on your requirements now that you’ve seen the best integrated development environments for Python that are currently accessible and their capabilities.

Here at Talendor we have plenty of experienced Python developers eager to start working exclusively in your project. Click here to learn more.