Best Python IDEs and Code Editors
Developed by JetBrains, PyCharm is a cross-platform IDE that offers a variety of features such as version control, graphical debugger, integrated unit tester, and pairs well for web development and Data Science tasks. With PyCharm’s API, developers can create their custom plugins for adding new features to the IDE.
Category : IDE
Other features :
Advantages
1. Can boost productivity and code quality
2. Highly active community for support
Disadvantages
1. Can be slow to load
2. Requires changing default settings for existing projects for best compatibility
3. The initial installation might be difficult
Spyder comes with support for packages like NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, and Pandas. Targeted towards scientists, engineers, and data analysts, Spyder offers advanced data exploration, analysis, and visualization tools.
Category: IDE
Other features :
Advantages
1. Includes support for numerous scientific tools
2. Comes with an amazing community support
3. Interactive console
4. Lightweight
Disadvantages
1. Comes with execution dependencies
2. Can be a bit challenging at first for newcomers
Short for Integrated Development and Learning Environment, IDLE has been bundled with Python as its default IDE for more than 15 years. IDLE is a cross-platform IDE and offers a basic set of features to keep it unburdened
Category: IDE
Other features :
Advantages
1. Perfect for beginners and educational institutions
Disadvantages
1. Lacks features offered by more advanced IDEs, such as project management capabilities
The feature-rich IDE for Python, Wing, was developed to make development faster with the introduction of intelligent features such as smart editor and simple code navigation. Wing comes in 101, Personal, and Pro variants with Pro being the most feature-rich and the only paid one
Category: IDE
Other features :
Advantages
1. Works well with version control systems such as Git
2. Strong debugging capabilities
Disadvantages
1. Lacks a compelling user interface
Part of Amazon’s Web Services, Cloud9 IDE gives you access to a cloud-based IDE, requiring just a browser. All the code is executed on Amazon’s infrastructure, translating to a seamless and lightweight development experience.
Category: IDE
Other features :
Advantages
1. Enables painless development of serverless applications
2. Remarkably robust and globally accessible infrastructure
Disadvantages
1. Depends entirely on internet access
Sublime Text is one of the most commonly used cross-platform Code Editors and supports several programming languages, including Python. Sublime offers various features such as plenty of themes for visual customization, a clean and distraction-free user interface, and supports package manager for extending the core functionality via plugins.
Category: Code Editor
Other features :
Advantages
1. Uncluttered user interface
2. Split editing
3. Fast and high-performance editor
Disadvantages
1. Annoying popup to buy sublime license
2. Confusingly large number of shortcuts
3. Complicated package manager
Developed by Microsoft, Visual Studio Code is an acclaimed cross-platform code editor that is highly customizable and allows development in several programming languages, including Python. It offers a wide variety of features to programmers, such as smart debugging, customizability, plugin support for extending core features
Category: IDE
Key highlights include:
Advantages
1. Regularly updated with active community support
2. Free
Disadvantages
1. Vast collection of plugins can make finding the right one challenging
2. Lackluster handling of large files
3. Longer launch time
Also known as Project Jupyter, it is an open-source and cross-platform IDE that many data scientists and analysts prefer over other tools. Perfect for working on technologies such as AI, ML, DL, along with several programming languages, Python included. Jupyter Notebooks offer seamless creation and sharing of code, text, and equations for various purposes, including analysis, visualization, and development.
Category: IDE
Key highlights include:
Advantages
1. Requires minimal setup
2. Perfect for quick data analysis
Disadvantages
1. Inexperienced users may find Jupyter complicated
Eclipse is one of the top IDEs available, supporting a broad range of programming languages for application development, including Python. Primarily created for developing Java applications, support for other programming languages is introduced via plugins. The plugin used for Python development is Pydev
Category: IDE
Additional benefits over Eclipse IDE:
Advantages
1. Easy to use
2. Programmer friendly features
3. Free
Disadvantages
1. Complex user interface makes it challenging to work with
2. If you’re a beginner, then using Eclipse will be difficult
Kris
Kris is IT consultant and business analyst with development backgrounds. As former developer he is trying to give advices on IT tools, here in Python language.