There can be n number of factors that you might want to consider before choosing the best IDE for Python programming, but ideally the most important ones that we have considered for this article are as follows: - Support multiple platforms like Windows, Mac OSX and Linux
- Budget, if it is free (or open source with a GPL license) or paid versions that are available for usage
- Has the IDE have a community version to help the students or budding Python programmers with their queries
Considering the factors above, finally the list is provided here – starting with the best and ending with the least possible match to the factors mentioned above. PyDev Plugin for Eclipse:This is a plugin available for usage on the standard Eclipse IDE for any programming language. Most of the developers choose to opt this, considering the ease of use and also the ease of installing the plugin too. Apart from this, there are few other points that we might want to consider, which are as follows: - It is supported by all operating systems
- It is an open source software and is available under Eclipse’s public license
- Provides Code completion feature, as available in Eclipse for Java or C / C++
- Integrates Python debugging
- Adds a token browser and provides refactoring tools
- Creating new Django projects is made real easy, execution via hot-keys is very simple
PyCharm IDE:PyCharm is just shy away from PyDev plugin with only one difference that it is a fully paid for all featured version. It is considered equivalent to PyDev as mentioned earlier and it is the best IDE for Python developers. Apart from this, let us take a look at the other features of this IDE as well: - The creators of the IDE is JetBrains
- A complete pack of features as this is a fully paid version, closed source
- It is supported by all operating systems – Windows, Linux, Mac OSX
- Designed not just for Python but also for Javascript, Coffeescript, Node.js, AngularJS
- Provides features like code inspection, integrated Unit testing
- Integrated Version control, Code refactoring tools
- Provides code auto-completion as well
- Provides support for many 3rd party frameworks for Web development, like Django, Pyramid and etc. This feature makes it the best choice for an alternative Rapid Application Development IDE.
Wing IDE:Wing IDE is one of the oldest and mature IDEs available for Python programming languages, also with that it supports the latest versions of Python that includes stackless Python. Wing IDE comes in 3 versions – one the free version, second a personal version and third the most powerful professional version which is obviously the paid version. Now, let us take a peek at the other salient features of this IDE: - The creators of Wing IDE is Wingware
- It is supported by Windows, Linux and Mac OSX operating systems
- Provides the best debugger with an option to set breakpoints, stepping through the code and also code inspection
- Provides support for remote debugging and also debugging Django templates
- Offers code auto-completion feature along with syntax highlighting
- Provides an in-built support for version control systems
Komodo IDE:This is a cross-platform IDE that supports multiple programming languages alongside Python. This is a commercial product but provides a free of cost version in the name of Komodo Edit. Now, let us see the other salient features of this IDE: - The creators of Komodo IDE is Activestate
- It is supported by Windows, Linux and Mac OSX operating systems
- It is a closed-source and proprietary licensed product
- Provides support for Django, such as syntax highlighting and code auto-completion features.
- Provides support for multi-threading debugging, multi-process debugging, breakpoint configuration
- Provides support for code profiling
- Provides support for integrated unit testing
Eric Python IDE:Eric is interestingly another open source Python IDE that has been purely written in Python along with its basis on Qt GUI toolkit. Over the past few years, Eric has evolved into a most used and feature rich IDE. Let us take a look at its other salient features: - Eric provides the basic features like syntax highlighting, profiling and code coverage
- Provides integrated task management
- Provides an option to launch 3rd party applications from within the IDE
- Provides an interactive Python shell
- Provides support for Version control for Subversion and extends its support to Git with add-on plugin
- Can’t be compared with the feature rich paid versions, but it is the best free version IDE for Python.
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