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Many programmers have a question, "Which Programming Language Shall I use ? ". Trust me once you choose a language there comes the next question, "Which IDE Shall I use ? " I write this article under an assumption that you have already choose Python as your programming language.
We live in the age of data science and artificial Intelligence, the crucial part for a data scientist is to find the correlation with the data sets, observations, coefficients for numerous businesses like pharmaceuticals, astrophysics, inventory, sales or insurances. There is a need for a best IDE where programmers can get maximum benefit out it - both in performance wise and usability ways. In this article I explain the 2 popular IDEs used in Python World.
The Top 2 IDEs and Code Editors for Python:
There were days when we manage to write the code and do all the work yourself entirely possible. But when you do the same job more vigorously then there will be a point where you may think of good IDE. And trust me IDE is going to boost the productivity, efficiency of your coding part. If you are a Pythonist, you are probably aware that the popularity of Python is growing vigorously and the Python related tools too are gaining a lot of attention. So, now the question arises which IDE should I use?
In another few minutes we are going unravel, what is and IDE, its use and which is better for a beginner as well as a professional.
What is an IDE ?
IDE the full form Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is an application used by developers to create programs. IDE consists of text editor, compiler, debugger and a deployment tool. And lastly the graphical user interface and its look and feel. The 2 popular IDE brands I am going to cover in this article are:
1. PyCharm
PyCharm is a tool from Jetbrains, and it is a free tool which includes all specific IDE. It includes: Code Editor, Debugger, test runner and best of all it has a dark mode and a light mode which is soothing to your eyes. Jetbrains provides a free and paid version of the tool. We are going to only look at the free version of it in this article. In fact the free version suffice all requirements for beginner. I like the debugger in this tool, which is really helps a lot. And the short cuts in PyCharm are very user friendly like an Excel.For instance, CTRL + C, CTRL + H, CTRL + F and F5 to execute. PyCharm is compatible with Window and Mac as well. And you can easily integrate with GitHub to pull requests maintain versions managements with in team, if both are working on the same piece of code. Depending on the various modules you work, we can download and install the packages like Pandas, Scikit etcs. I observed that world wide, they are more PyCharmers.
This is good for both beginners and professionals. Below is how the PyCharm looks like.
2. Jupyter Notebook
Jupyter is completely a free IDE and it’s an Open source tool and is web enabled. This is available on Anaconda Navigator. You can work on it from any OS. (Mac, Windows, Linux), all you need a web browser. In addition to the features of PyCharm it also has good numerical simulation, statistical modelling, great visualizations and suitable for machine learning. And the best part all the required packages (Numpy, Pandas, Scikit) come preinstalled. All we need to do is to install and start using. The compiler in Jupyter can execute line by line code in the IDE. By this we do get a chance to test our code in smaller chunks. I personally recommend Jupyter Notebook as it comes handy in any browser and we can start using all the packages without an additional overhead to install any packages required.
Benefits:
Runs on any browser
Best for Data Science and Machine Learning programs
I have not used VIM and Spyder. Have you used it anytime? Do you think it is better than the above? I am eager to hear from you, please drop me your inputs below.