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The browser based Python interpreter is great, but I'd like to be doing some more Python coding on the side as I go through the course. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good Python IDE? I've heard both of these recommended, but I'm not sure what's better, at least for a Python beginner: Eclipse, with PyDev Visual Studios, with the pytools plugin. I've tried pytools a bit, and it seems all right. I'm more comfortable with Visual Studios than I am with Eclipse currently, but I'm wondering if that's a better route to take. Any recommendations? |
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I am using Eclipse with PyDev. Eclipse is light weight and a comprehensive IDE for Python and a number of other languages. I don't recommend Visual Studio because of its complexity. Download Eclipse For Windows 32bit/64bit Free Download Eclipse for Mac OS X 32bit/63bit Free See the link for help in configuring python with Eclipse PYDev with Eclipse I develop JAVA ANDROID C++ & now Python and i use Eclipse for All of them 1
Well, in terms of Visual Studio, I get Visual Studio Ultimate free from my university. I've been using it for about 10 months or so, so I'm fairly comfortable with it. I'll try your other recommendations as well, thanks. Note also that Visual Studio is a plathorm locked solution, thus you wan't be able to use it on Mac, or other Unixes. 4
vim/emacs + python :D Works on all platforms - and before you say "what about Windows" there is vim for Windows! While this is a bit of a troll, I'm only half joking (and not just because some people actually do use emacs+macros for Python with lightning speed). I use PyDev for Django development, but IHMO it is overkill for what we're doing, especially because we are not using extensive imports/external modules at this time. If anything an IDE will probably slow you down at this point. I'm using Notepad++ and Python on the command line and it is working very well so far. You should look into python(x,y). I'm surpirsed nobody has actually mentioned it within the first couple of pages. It's for scientific computing and ocmes with Spyder as well as a number of scientific computing packages (NumPy, SciPy and a few machine learning packages pre-installed). Eclipse is great, particularly the debugger. However I generally just use Notepad++ for tiny single file scripts like these. You can also use the NppExec plugin to run the scripts in place. |
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No one else mentioned it so I will: Wingware is an excellent IDE for Windows and Linux. Another possibility: Komodo by ActiveState. Another poster mentioned this but it bears repeating: Tools in the distribution are plenty powerful. Most IDEs basically skin those tools. One other tool worth mentioning: IPython. IPython is an incredibly powerful interactive programming platform. I use IPython with a bulk editor almost exclusively. Wing IDE by Wingware is fantastic! I recommend the Pro version because it enables you to do interactive debugging. i have been using Wing IDE and it is truly great, for me it's the best by far and i have tried all i think. |
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On windows I generally write the code using notepad++ and run it on command line. In unix I generally use vi and again execute the code in shell. If you want to use a powerful interactive shell try ironpython .. you may like it as it is integrated with .Net |
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I've found the IPython interpreter very helpful, as it adds quite a few shortcuts and extra features to speed up development. That combined with whatever text editor you're familiar with should be simple, yet effective enough (emacs and vim for me). |
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Eclipse might be too heavy for the tasks we have in this class; OTOH, There are quite nice and simple DrPyhton (modeled after DrScheme) and IDLE IDEs; I usually recommend DrPython for the beginners. Also, don't forget about ipython :) 1
I'm a newbie to Python using IDLE. It's okay and it's free. One hint for other newbies on IDLE: when you save your file be sure to add a .py extension or you won't be able to re-open the file in IDLE. It seems like they should add this by default. |
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Another good Python IDE for Windows is PyScripter. Since it's a small native app it might be less sluggish than Eclipse or VisualStudio. Might be a good choice for an old computer or netbook. I just tried PyScripter. It reported syntax errors where there were none. It's no good. I used PyScripter for this course, although I'd used traditional methods (vim + command line execution) or winpdb in the past. I have used PyScriper and I haven't had any problems so far... Very good tool... I used pyscripter and it was really helpful to debug the programs |
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@naiyt maybe you can put this post as a community wiki so we can put a list of recommendations in the question