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Is this list only for cross-platform IDEs and editors? Because Visual Studio community edition with VS tools for Python is a very powerful (and zero cost) optio

by mikece 7y ago

Is this list only for cross-platform IDEs and editors? Because Visual Studio community edition with VS tools for Python is a very powerful (and zero cost) option if you're on Windows.

MiloszG 7y ago
Yes, the IDEs presented in the article are all cross-platform. This way, they can be of use to all of our readers, especially considering the popularity of Linux among software developers. But we might add some subsections in the future, so thanks for the feedback!
melling 7y ago
I’m not a Windows fan, but I would like to hear how all the tools compare even if they are only single platform. I’m willing to treat a computer and operating system as an appliance and use it for a specific task if it offers the best tools for a given language.
- mikece 7y ago
  "I’m willing to treat a computer and operating system as an appliance and use it for a specific task if it offers the best tools for a given language." Or if it's the only tool for the task, as is the case with macOS for cross-platform mobile app developers. Visual Studio on macOS is "somewhat required" to make iOS apps from Xamarin but the editing/development experience on Windows is vastly superior. Just have to use the right tool for the job...
  - melling 7y ago
    “Just have to use the right tool for the job...” Sort of a vacuous statement that people really need to retire. If you only have one tool, it’s an open and shut case. If there’s more than tool, there’s a discussion to be had.
Stubb 7y ago
VSC is cross platform and runs happily on MacOS, Linux, and Windows. It's remote development capabilities let me run it on a MacOS laptop and develop code on a Linux server. It's replaced every other IDE for me since plug-ins let me do Python, C/C++, Fortran, CMake, Java, etc. equally well. Edit: Visual Studio Code
- rovr138 7y ago
  Visual Studio Community does not run on Linux. Visual Studio Code does though.
  - thrower123 7y ago
    Microsoft naming sucks so, so very much. There's so many instances of tangentially-related products that get lumped under a brand name and unless one is intimately aware of these evolutions it causes a huge amount of needless confusion.
  - rumanator 7y ago
    > Visual Studio Code does though. Let's also mention VSCodium, which is vscode built without the metrics https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19650109 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19650109
- zeku 7y ago
  Wait how do I run it on my mac and develop on a linux server?
  - Stubb 7y ago
    Click on the Extensions icon on the left side of the window. Search for and install the Remove Development pack. Reload VSC. Click on the Gear icon, then Command Palette. Type "connect" and you should see an option for "Remote-SSH: Connect to Host…" Select that and you're off to the races. VSC will install extensions in ~/.vscode-server on your remove Linux server. Remote development with TRAMP was the main thing that kept me on Emacs. Once VSC offered a credible alternative, I switched.
fjp 7y ago
VS Code in Python for me is very poor at refactoring/renaming. Very slow, mostly can't find all the instances of a symbol, etc etc. Every once in awhile I want to reach for VS Code as more lightweight alternative to PyCharm, but PyCharm just blows it out of the water in almost every category except resource usage.
- jedieaston 7y ago
  OP is talking about full Visual Studio, not VS Code.
  - fjp 7y ago
    Ah, I see. I would have to imagine full Visual Studio is even more resource-intensive than PyCharm though I haven't done development on Windows in several years.
- randomfool 7y ago
  Are you using Jedi or the Microsoft Python Analysis Engine? My understanding is that in VSCode if you disable Jedi then it will use the same engine that desktop VS uses.
  - fjp 7y ago
    I will have to try this! It's been awhile but I was just using whatever was default or suggested for VSCode. The "refactoring library" was named rope, and I always figured that was the source of my issues.
  - rumanator 7y ago
    > Are you using Jedi or the Microsoft Python Analysis Engine? This is the sort of info that is glaringly missing from articles like this one. Extensible editora are nice and all, but they are only as useful as the plugins you install. Otherwise, text editors such as vim, vscode or sublime are just that: plain old text editors.
zwieback 7y ago
Visual Studio Enterprise is my main dev environment (C#/C++) so I use Visual Studio with Python tools as my main Python environment as well. On Linux is use VSCode, which I like a lot too but I wish they weren't so different. The VS part of VSCode is really a misnomer.
bluebasket 7y ago
yes the list is certainly not exhaustive. i don't see activepython from active state in there. they've been in the game forever and mu is a newcomer but a really interesting one!
- Finnucane 7y ago
  The claim is that the list is 'best' not 'all'. If you included all then you wouldn't be able to have an argument about the ones that got left off.
dragonwriter 7y ago
> Visual Studio community edition with VS tools for Python is a very powerful (and zero cost) option if you're on Windows. It's only permitted for certain combinations of uses and users, though, on top of not being cross-platform.

by mikece 7y ago

Is this list only for cross-platform IDEs and editors? Because Visual Studio community edition with VS tools for Python is a very powerful (and zero cost) option if you're on Windows.

MiloszG 7y ago

Yes, the IDEs presented in the article are all cross-platform. This way, they can be of use to all of our readers, especially considering the popularity of Linux among software developers. But we might add some subsections in the future, so thanks for the feedback!

melling 7y ago

I’m not a Windows fan, but I would like to hear how all the tools compare even if they are only single platform. I’m willing to treat a computer and operating system as an appliance and use it for a specific task if it offers the best tools for a given language.

mikece 7y ago
"I’m willing to treat a computer and operating system as an appliance and use it for a specific task if it offers the best tools for a given language." Or if it's the only tool for the task, as is the case with macOS for cross-platform mobile app developers. Visual Studio on macOS is "somewhat required" to make iOS apps from Xamarin but the editing/development experience on Windows is vastly superior. Just have to use the right tool for the job...
- melling 7y ago
  “Just have to use the right tool for the job...” Sort of a vacuous statement that people really need to retire. If you only have one tool, it’s an open and shut case. If there’s more than tool, there’s a discussion to be had.

Stubb 7y ago

VSC is cross platform and runs happily on MacOS, Linux, and Windows. It's remote development capabilities let me run it on a MacOS laptop and develop code on a Linux server. It's replaced every other IDE for me since plug-ins let me do Python, C/C++, Fortran, CMake, Java, etc. equally well. Edit: Visual Studio Code

rovr138 7y ago
Visual Studio Community does not run on Linux. Visual Studio Code does though.
- thrower123 7y ago
  Microsoft naming sucks so, so very much. There's so many instances of tangentially-related products that get lumped under a brand name and unless one is intimately aware of these evolutions it causes a huge amount of needless confusion.
- rumanator 7y ago
  > Visual Studio Code does though. Let's also mention VSCodium, which is vscode built without the metrics https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19650109 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19650109
zeku 7y ago
Wait how do I run it on my mac and develop on a linux server?
- Stubb 7y ago
  Click on the Extensions icon on the left side of the window. Search for and install the Remove Development pack. Reload VSC. Click on the Gear icon, then Command Palette. Type "connect" and you should see an option for "Remote-SSH: Connect to Host…" Select that and you're off to the races. VSC will install extensions in ~/.vscode-server on your remove Linux server. Remote development with TRAMP was the main thing that kept me on Emacs. Once VSC offered a credible alternative, I switched.

fjp 7y ago

VS Code in Python for me is very poor at refactoring/renaming. Very slow, mostly can't find all the instances of a symbol, etc etc. Every once in awhile I want to reach for VS Code as more lightweight alternative to PyCharm, but PyCharm just blows it out of the water in almost every category except resource usage.

jedieaston 7y ago
OP is talking about full Visual Studio, not VS Code.
- fjp 7y ago
  Ah, I see. I would have to imagine full Visual Studio is even more resource-intensive than PyCharm though I haven't done development on Windows in several years.
randomfool 7y ago
Are you using Jedi or the Microsoft Python Analysis Engine? My understanding is that in VSCode if you disable Jedi then it will use the same engine that desktop VS uses.
- fjp 7y ago
  I will have to try this! It's been awhile but I was just using whatever was default or suggested for VSCode. The "refactoring library" was named rope, and I always figured that was the source of my issues.
- rumanator 7y ago
  > Are you using Jedi or the Microsoft Python Analysis Engine? This is the sort of info that is glaringly missing from articles like this one. Extensible editora are nice and all, but they are only as useful as the plugins you install. Otherwise, text editors such as vim, vscode or sublime are just that: plain old text editors.

zwieback 7y ago

Visual Studio Enterprise is my main dev environment (C#/C++) so I use Visual Studio with Python tools as my main Python environment as well. On Linux is use VSCode, which I like a lot too but I wish they weren't so different. The VS part of VSCode is really a misnomer.

bluebasket 7y ago

yes the list is certainly not exhaustive. i don't see activepython from active state in there. they've been in the game forever and mu is a newcomer but a really interesting one!

Finnucane 7y ago
The claim is that the list is 'best' not 'all'. If you included all then you wouldn't be able to have an argument about the ones that got left off.

dragonwriter 7y ago

> Visual Studio community edition with VS tools for Python is a very powerful (and zero cost) option if you're on Windows. It's only permitted for certain combinations of uses and users, though, on top of not being cross-platform.