What IDE to use for Python?

Vim - For me it's the best choice, regardless of technology I'm using at the moment. It's not so hard to learn as it looks and during the work you are becoming more and more productive.

I use Eclipse plus the PyDev plugin. PyDev has support for PyLint, which is another free download. With those three installed, you have an environment that can parse your python and spot errors (almost all errors, i.e bad vars, bad types, bad includes) as you type.

You can also debug from within the IDE, including single stepping. You can see all your Python projects at one glance in your workspace. Selecting text in the IDE will evaluate it in the current environment (like visual studio's tooltips). It can launch and debug several processes from the one debugger and handles Twisted pretty well. I currently use it for working with Twisted and Django.

If you go with Eclipse, you should consider these plugins

• Aptana - either as a plugin or as an alterntive to Eclipse (extra features in commercial)
• Mylyn - Task management, often included already. Integrates with lots of other task managers
• Subclipse - SVN client built into eclipse
• Goto file - Open files in current project quickly with keyboard
• Multi Clipboard - Management of the last X things you cut / pasted

Also, outside of Eclipse, I suggest you get IPython for your command line debugging pleasure. I prefer it over the standard command line shell and IDLE (The GUI shell).

Emacs has very good Python support, both wrt. syntax highlighting and getting the indention levels right.

Note that Emacs has a rather steep learning curve. But once you master it, it will help you be very productive in any language.

If you're interested, the Emacs wiki is a great starting point.

PyCharm from Jetbrains is great in prerelease and will be excellent by the time it's officially released in the fall (in the northern hemisphere) of 2010. It's got

• CP - Cross Platfom
• C - Commercial
• AC - Automatic Code-completion
• PD - Integrated Python Debugging
• EM - ErrorMarkup
• SC - Source Control integration
• SI - Smart Indent
• BM - Bracket Matching
• LN - Line Numbering
• CF - Code Folding
• UT - Unit Testing

It's got by far the best rename support I've seen in a Python IDE, and about 10 other refactorings so far; better code completion than I've seen; and definitely better code navigation (cmd-N and start typing the name of the symbol).

If you are on Windows, then PyScripter is the best FREE choice out there. It's a complete IDE with integrated debugger, and it's a single executable, so no install hassles. It's only 6-7 MB in size. It's got support for remote debugging. Code completion is good, and cross referencing is provided by simply hovering the mouse over the symbol you want to know more about. It's a well thought out project. Plus it's FREE and in active development. The latest version supports Python 3.0 as well.

Try it out. It's really good work, just like Python.

Update PyScripter's option to this list: [Windows, CP, F, AC, PD, EM, SI, LN, CT, UT].

+1 for Wing Professional IDE.

The "Go To Definition" and "Source Assistant" can really go a long way to assist in your Python learning.

It has Vi and Emacs Emulation too, if you need either of them. Only the UI is bad, if on Windows (as it is based on GTK). It rocks on Ubuntu.

If you are using any text editor, (Scite is my choice) then you'd do well by using IPython console. (You can do a easy_install of IPython if easy_install is installed.)

With Python itself providing debug options, and IPython and Bash shell offering good auto-complete options, it is not really that bad an option to do away with an IDE. But if you still want an IDE (as I want), Wing Professional is the best one out there.

I have also tried SPE and PyDev and am not impressed enough to consider them. Some features of PyDev include verifying whether a variable is used or not and auto-setting of different modes- Debug, PyDev, and Java Browsing when you run an application.

If you only need a good Syntax highlighting SciTE (on Windows, SciTE based Notepad++) is a good option.

If you need project organization and auto-complete with syntax highlighting, Komodo Edit is the best option. It also supports many other languages.

If you want everything but the space shuttle (minus some special features of PyDev), Wing Professional is the best IDE currently available.

It is free for non-commercial work on a public Open Source project, see https://wingware.com/store/prices.

The most important thing is to choose one and go with it.

I use a Mac and prefer Textmate but there are other choices. For the PC I have heard only good things about Notepad++.

See appropriate page in Python wiki and choose the one that fits your taste (have you ever heard of Emacs vs. Vim flame wars? ;)).

Personally, I'm using Textmate on Mac, Komodo Edit on Windows and PIDA on linux.

There is Komodo from ActiveState which is commercial, there is also Komodo Edit which is free.

You might want to add Sublime Text also as a possible Python IDE. It is certainly directed to more "hardcore" developers, who don't mind working with a text file when configuring its UI. :)

Its cross-platform version is in beta (Updated 23 Jan 2012), but it is an awesome free-to-try/commercial, with a lot of neat features. The most interesting one for this discussion is that it is itself partly written in Python and one may easily add Python coded plugins.

Other features include:

• Minimap
• Snippets
• Macros
• Build Systems
• Configurable Key Bindings
• Python Plugins (through API)
• Multiselection (unbelivably useful and effective)
• Python Console (for plugin development)

Netbeans 6.9.1, though it doesn't seem to support Python 3.X syntax yet.

I've been a professional working with Python for 8 years and for large projects nothing has been more practical to work with than WingIde. Komodo, Eclipse, Boa, SPE, IDLE, PythonWi has always caused me grief and I always go back to WingIde. WingIde should be high on the list especially if you have to debug multi-threaded python apps, large frameworks like Zope, Django, Twisted, etc. It is cross-platform, multi-monitor, excellent support, always improving.

When you have to develop projects with hundreds of modules, WingIde is a strong choice.

IDLE -- Does the trick for me (on Windows). Sometimes applications have weird quirks when run with this tool; otherwise its completion features are unequalled. Ugly font rendering, use bitmap fonts. Ugly GUI. Sometimes the loopback connection breaks and restarting is required to get it working again.

PyDev -- Lacks IDLE's completion features, but features smarter indenting. Requires you to create projects beforehand; after you do that, however, just copy pasting your Python scripts to the project folder will do. Sometimes it froze hard, but I'm not running the latest versions.

Gedit -- Does the trick for me (on Linux). General purpose editor that comes with a general purpose autocomplete plugin that is actually pretty good given the premises.

Vim -- I have a beef with how Vim autoindents Python.

For the first times though, nothing beats running Python's own text shell for toying around and reading those overlong help() outputs with less (Linux only). Otherwise be prepared to scroll up a lot.

I like SciTE very much.

Up until a few months ago I was a long time user of SciTE (SCIntilla based Text Editor) but recently I've switched to using Geany, another lightweight open source Scintilla based text editor written in C. It's similar to SciTE but better in a lot of ways.

The only things I changed to make me feel more at home was the color schema (to match SciTE's) and disabling all the widgets I don't need (toolbar etc.).

Some of the interesting features of Geany (some also apply to SciTE):

• Folding
• Markers (easily switch between sections of a file)
• Simple session restore (project based files)
• Snippets (similar to SciTE's abbreviations)
• The ability to reorganize editor tabs

Geany (CP, F, AC*, MLS, SI, BM, LN, CF, CT)

Pycharm: http://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/

I've been using Spyderlib for some time, really worth trying.

http://code.google.com/p/spyderlib/

Having to juggle between platforms, it's a lightweight, efficient editor targeted at scientific development.

Among others, it features:

• CP - Cross Platform
• F - Free
• AC - Automatic Code-completion
• PD - Integrated Python Debugging
• EM - ErrorMarkup
• SI - Smart Indent
• LN - Line Numbering

It is easy to try it directly from checkout:

hg clone https://code.google.com/p/spyderlib/
cd spyderlib
python bootstrap.py

and it's a snap to install using pip install spyder or if your on a Mac with MacPorts with a simple sudo port install py26-spyder

Eclipse with PyDev is pretty good these days.

I did dabble a little with SPE (http://pythonide.blogspot.com/) and Eric (http://www.die-offenbachs.de/eric/index.html) but found them a bit slow.

Emacs (python-mode).

I use gedit on my Ubuntu Linux machines. It's part of the standard GNOME installation and so you will also find it on many other Linux distributions. This means that it's either installed by default or installation is just one command away. When you load it up it looks a bit like notepad does on Win XP but it is a lot more powerful.

The beauty of gedit is that it has Syntax highlighting, not just for Python, but for many other languages as well. This is great because it means that I only have to get used to one editor no matter which language I happen to be hacking in.

If wish, you can also get it to do things like bracket matching, line numbering, launch a python console etc. More details can be found at

http://www.instructables.com/id/Using-Gedit-as-a-Python-IDE/

Big fan of Active States's Komodo IDE, which has excellent multi-language support, debugging, code-completion, source control integration etc. There's also its free little brother Komodo Edit available which is more than capable for many day-to-day tasks.

Both are cross-platform (Windows, Mac and *nix)

Which editor I use depends on the OS/environment I'm working in.

• Linux+Gnome, GEdit
• Linux+KDE, Kate
• Windows, UltraEdit

A general purpose editor which is not mentioned too often is jEdit. After searching for an editor that suits me for years I settled on that one and use it pretty much exclusively now. Despite being java-based it feels fast and even starts up quickly on not too old computer.

I normally use SPE (http://pythonide.blogspot.com). It's written with wxPython and includes wxGlade as a development tool. It also has code completion, UML generator, Blender support, and built-in PyDoc viewer. There are also many other features that it comes with, not to mention that it's free to use.

JetBrains as recently made their PyCharm IDE available for public preview. It isn't super yet, but I can imagine that they will shore it up pretty quickly. They are known industry wide for making exceptional products.

http://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/index.html

Even though I think there's a "best" choice here (whatever that means...) and it's been mentioned, I'm going to break with what everybody else here has said, and quote Andy and Dave:

Use a Single Editor Well The editor should be an extension of your hand; make sure your editor is configurable, extensible, and programmable.

If you are already skilled at an extensible editor, then keep using that -- you just have to figure out what extensions make Python easier, but chances are somebody else has already done 99.9% of the work for you.

If you aren't skilled at an extensible editor yet, then you should be! Pick one and start learning, but don't limit your search to only "what's good at Python, today?" because you weren't using Python 5 years ago and there's a good chance you won't be using Python 5 years from now. Get an editor that's good at editing text because that seems to be the only constant in this field.

It is not easy to recommend an IDE for python, since they all have their strong and weak points.

But here is the two I use, and why:

WingIDE. This is my preferred IDE for larger projects, and the most important reason is its debugging capabilities. No other IDE I have tried have ever come close to WingIDE in that sense. But for that, I have to sacrifice a few things, like re-factoring... and money (I use the commercial version).

PyDev with Eclipse. I have just started to use this one, and love the fact that it has re-factoring. It also has a much better code-completion than WingIDE. On the negative side: I find it to be too complex. I'm struggling with the svn integration, how the projects are done, and that I'm not able to configure it with my favorite low-contrast color scheme.

A few years back, Emacs was my favorite (for programming, reading email and usenet new). Today, I prefer a perfect IDE... of which we have none... :-)

PS: I suggest an addition to the Acronyms: REF - Refactoring.

The editor that comes with the python distribution (Idle) is very good for first time Python programmers.

I just want to update the WingIDE features. I'm referring to the 3.1 version (latest now Febr.2009):

CP, C, AC, MLS (support for C), PD, EM, SC, SI, BM, LN, CF, CT, UT

Hope you'll find this update helpful.

./alex

You can add Editra to the list.

(CP, F, AC, MLS, SC, SI, BM, LN, CF)

Written in python with wxPython, well done, with some nice plugins (project (SVN, etc.), code browser, comment browser, ipython shell).

With the PyStudio plugin, you get (PD, EM) added.