I'm a complete newbie to Python. I've worked on PHP/JavaScript earlier but starting today I'm moving onto Python. I have no idea about the environment needed for it. I could use some suggestions on it for me to get started.
Under Unix, Emacs is a good choice, to which I always come back, because it is convenient to have a single editor for everything, and because it's open source.
What is best for you depends on your past experience with IDEs. I'd say: stick with what you've been using, or take this opportunity to try an even better IDE.
Note: Python comes with Idle, which is a very simple (if limited) IDE.
Be sure to check out IPython. It's an enhanced interactive python shell with a bunch of useful features such as Tab-Completion using introspection (eg, type "my_object." to see a list of its attributes and methods), logging your interactive session to an executable python-file, defining macros, etc. The documentation page has a link to the tutorial as well as screencasts showing it in action.
On my mac/Linux machines, python came pre-installed. On windows I use both jython under the eclipse IDE and ActivePython with their IDE/eclipse. With eclipse you'll want PyDev.
It all depends on what you are looking for and what you are already using.
For instance, if you are using a more 'simple' editor at the moment: as long as it's got Python syntax you've got the basics.
If you are used to e.g. Eclipse you can just continue to use that, combined with Pydev. Besides syntax highlighting you'll also get more fancy features to help you debug and refactor your code.
Personally I use Emacs with python-mode (and a few other modes to interface with Subversion and Git). In the past I used Vim which also worked quite well.
My advice would be to start out with your current environment as long as it has some rudimentary support for Python. Once you are familiar with the language, start exploring what your environment is missing and either add it or if you cannot, switch to an enviroment which does support the feature.
I use gvim with some plugin in order to have better support for python.
If you like IDE, look at wing IDE wich is the best I have tested so far. Especially the debuger included is really helpful.
The Python Beginner's Guide and the official Python Tutorial both seem like good places to start.
Geany is a good option for a Linux setup, it's intellisense isn't that great but syntax highlighting is good and it can compile your code directly from inside the editor, plus it handles other languages such as C/C++, PHP, Java etc... Eric is another popular choice as it's a full IDE and I know some people use Eclipse.
On windows I use Notepad++, but it's mostly because I like text editors instead of fully blown IDE's.
Reference wise Daniel's choices are very good places to start, also check out Green Tea Press who do free computer books, there are two Python choices on there but the "Python for Software Design" book hasn't yet been published properly although you can download the manuscript. The "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist" book is a good one and not as scary as it sounds.
IDLE is nice to try out things. Other tools that people like are Eclipse with the Pydev plugin which seems to work ok, although it has crashed a few times (Eclipse, that is) and NetBeans (which I haven't tried) but some people seem to like.
I can only help you if you're running a Mac. Download Xcode. I believe that Python 2.3 comes bundled with these development tools. Luckily enough, this is all you really need to get started, unless you want a newer version of Python.
All you need to do is open up Terminal and type python. You're done!
Related
I recently installed IPython after hearing about it on this forum. I am looking for an environment that is similar to what might come with MATLAB or RStudio for R.
I was under the impression that IPython would give me that but the version I downloaded for Windows looks very bare. In fact I do not really see a difference between IDLE and IPython except tab completion and history (which I have been wanting) but this is about as much as the interpreter that comes with R which I used to think was hard to work with.
Have I misunderstood the point of IPython? Or is it possible that I have not installed correctly?
I have also downloaded the 'Console' and while I am not convinced that it is working properly, it looks very bare as well.
Komodo looks good but is somewhat costly. Netbeans and Eclipse also look good, but do not seem to be straightforward to install, at least for somebody with my level of knowledge, so it would be good if somebody could verify their compatibility with Python, features, and ease of use for a non-expert user.
I suggest you try Spyder
You can find it here : https://www.spyder-ide.org/
It is perfect for you : it is a lightweight Scientific IDE with the explicit purpose of being similar in feel to matlab.
It has an editor, a console and lots of neat features and plug-ins.
It can use IPython as its console.
IPython is "just" an enhanced python console with pure awesomeness built-in. (actually it's much more : it's a client-server architecture with multiple interfaces to pure magic, in console mode, Qt, and even inside a browser with the Notebook)
Definitely check it out later on when you've used the basic console for a while.
For the context, i've been using Eclipse, pycharm, got tired of those, and i started to ask around what people use, and the one i've heard the most about is sublime text.
You should take a look, maybe it's what you are looking for!
I just saw it's not open source though!
What i'm using now is Ninja-IDE, which is written in python and is open source and seems pretty good! It has plenty of plugins, which includes an IPython plugin
Have you tried the qtconsole backend? It was released after you asked your question.
This is a very lightweight widget that largely feels like a terminal,
but provides a number of enhancements only possible in a GUI, such as
inline figures, proper multiline editing with syntax highlighting,
graphical calltips, and much more.
From the Windows command prompt, enter:
ipython qtconsole
I am turning to Python from .NET world. And Visual Studio was something a great tool i used.
In python world we do have basic IDLE and another one is VIM. I have seen that a lot of developers have configured VIM to a great IDE. Using basic VIM in Windows 7 seems of less use.
So i want to moderate my VIM to a level which has file explorer, syntax highlighting, search, error highlighting etc. So that it gives feel of Visual Studio and more productive.
But all hacks/tips available are for Linux/Ubuntu users mostly, which i may use later but as of now i need to make my VIM in Windows more productive, visual.
Please Suggest some Tips/Hacks/Resources to look around for VIM configuration?
Thanks
This question addresses your low level issue: coding Python with an IDE that is not VS.
There are a few popular blog posts addressing your high level issue: setting up Vim for Python development. They are a quick google away…
I feel the need to point out that Vim is not an IDE. You can customize it a lot and end up with something that looks like an IDE but you won't get an IDE. Only an over-customized text editor.
Anyway, here are a few tips for starting out with Vim:
Do $ vimtutor as many times as needed to feel comfortable with the basics.
Get familiar with Vim's buit-in documentation: the answers to most of your questions are somewhere inside. :help gets you to the front page, :help 'option' shows the documentation for option, :help :command shows the documentation for command… Hit <C-]> on a colored word to jump to its definition.
Don't use Janus or SPF13 or whatever pre-packaged set of plugins. You'll only grow bad habits. Similarly, don't copy other people's vimrc wholesale.
Ctags is an external code indexer that is used by Vim to "jump to definition" with <C-]>. cscope is another option, it's more powerful but also a little more complex. See :help tags.
Related to ctags, TagList and TagBar are two popular plugins used to display more or less the equivalent of the Object Browser in VS.
NERDTree is another popular plugin that mimicks the file tree found in many IDEs/editors. But Vim comes with netrw (:Ex) by default, try it before installing NERDTree.
Read :help motion.txt as soon as possible.
Watch Drew Neil's laser-guided vimcasts.
Don't rush it.
you can use vim plugins on windows, http://www.vim.org/scripts/index.php, typing "vim {your feature here}" into google will come up with lots of results.
popular file explorer is nerdtree,
syntax highlighting can be turned on with
syntax on in your vimrc
searching open file is easy to do using reg exes . Initialize search with /.
Searching directory is easy to do using grep.
I don't develop on windows but i have read that Cygwin might be worth installing for some linux tools if not already installed.
I am in no way an evangelist of any Editor/IDE.
But, if you are a newbie to Python I would suggest trying out Sublime Text 2 http://www.sublimetext.com/ . It is a very light weight yet powerful editor with a great following and it has a free evaluation version with no deadline.
But, if you intend to work using frameworks such as Django/ GAE then I would suggest using PyCharm from JetBrains
http://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/
Finally, these tools are all just personal choices until you get comfortable with one or two of them.
Thanks,
-Hari
One possible compromise is to use your favorite IDE with a vim emulator plugin. For example, in Eclipse you can use Vrapper, PyCharm has IdeaVim and so forth. Lighttable also has vim key-bindings. The plug-ins (or key-binding options) give you some of the benefits of editing in Vim while still having the powerful debugging / navigation features, etc. of a full-blown IDE. BTW, Vrapper works with PyDev.
Using an emulator in an IDE allows you to gain the "muscle-memory" necessary for effective vim editing, without getting bogged down in "configuration hell" associated with turning an editor into an IDE (which auto-complete plugin do I use?..etc.?). Once you have mastered the vim keystrokes for normal and visual mode, used along with insert mode, you may decide to continue on into pure Vim and face those issues.
I wouldn't recommend to learn VIM in 2012 (despite it being a great editor). If you must, this blog post will get you started.
But VIM isn't an IDE, it's a text editor.
If you really want a powerful IDE, try IntelliJ IDEA or Eclipse. Both have great plugins to turn them into Python IDEs (along with code completion and all the other nice time savers). For Eclipse, try PyDev. For IntelliJ, search for Python in the plugin preferences pages.
I am about to embark on learning Python (largely for the purposes of using it as scripting glue between my applications).
I use Netbeans (6.8) on Linux for both my C++ and PHP development work. Ideally, I would like to use the same IDE for Python - and there is a Python plugin for Netbeans (admittedly, its still in Beta).
Does anyone have any experience using Python with Netbeans?
Shall I use Netbeans (for the reasons stated above - i.e. already familiar environment), or is there a [GOOD] reason why I should use a different IDE?
Although I've not been using it for long, I was in the same situation as yourself and just decided to bite the bullet. I haven't had any issues with it so far and found he most important thing to be that you are using an environment that you are both familiar and comfortable with. Any quirks you find along the way are probably more than made up for by the shallow learning curve given by not having to get used to an entirely new IDE.
That said however, if you are only just picking the language up I can't recommend the "official" command interface, IDLE, enough as it just let's you get into the guts of the language giving instant feedback etc.
Additionally, the following SO question has a comprehensive list of Python IDE's if you find that the Python plugin for Netbeans just doesn't work for you.
Could anyone tell me how to use pure Python without Cocoa support in Xcode? I can only find the Cocoa-Python template on the Internet.
Thanks in advance.
If you are just trying to write pure Python command line tools, using Xcode is like using a big sledge hammer to hit a tiny nail, in other words, probably not the best tool for the job. There are some old posts out there about how to set up a pure Python Xcode project, like this one, but, in the end, you might be better off using an editor you're already familiar with, like emacs, or, if you don't mind spending a little bit of money, TextMate, all along with a free vcs like mercurial or git. Or take a look in MacPorts for those and other options.
Just about the best IDE for editing and running Python code is actually still emacs. The python-mode for emacs does a wonderful job of maintaining whitespace and, with a bit of configuration, emacs is truly a powerful editor.
Pretty radically different than your typical GUI editor, certainly, and some find it quite distasteful. I've personally used emacs, mostly, for editing Python since 1992 or so.
Google will reveal all, including a native version of Emacs for Mac OS X.
A lot of people like eclipse with PyDev for python, although I don't know how wel it works on OS X with apple's mishandling of java.
Even though I am using BBEdit, I found Wingware Python editor did a good job in exploiting the introspected data of Python modules. Purely designed for Python. Give it a try.
http://www.wingide.com/
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What IDE to use for Python
I have Notepad++ and NetBeans 6.8, however I don't know if they work. I know you can edit Python with Notepad++ and compile/run it using the command line thing, but I'm not really sure how. I know NetBeans is a full-featured IDE and you can compile Java programs, but I don't think they support Python?
Any ideas?
Eclipse with PyDev has been a great combination for me. Great editing experience and more importantly a good debugger. Pylint is supported as well, this will save you lots of headaches. This is all open source too. If you want to do IronPython development though I would add SharpDevelop 3.1.1. It has a drag & drop GUI form designer and overall is very much like Visual Studio, except it's free of course.
Actually, netbeans has some python support right now: http://wiki.netbeans.org/Python. It works (still I prefer a plain text editor).
For a list of python IDEs i'd call this list comprehensive: What IDE to use for Python?
I like PyDev under Eclipse ( and of course Eclipse does Java too).
I am using eclipse with pydev extension
Have a look at PythonEditors, there is a huge list of editors/IDEs with python-support.
You have IDLE installed with Python. It is good editor which serves the purpose well. It is multi windowed, have syntax highlighting and auto complete features.
I use Komodo Edit for all of my Python work. Actually, I use Komodo Edit for all of my IDE uses save for when I'm working in .Net. It's not really a full on IDE, but it's been perfect for everything I've used it for. It's pretty lightweight, has good syntax highlighting, but doesn't shove a lot of arcane project file overhead at you that you'd need to learn. It's worth having around, in my opinion, even if it doesn't suit your needs for Python.
Python doesn't need to be compiled - it compiles itself (to bytecode) when you run it. Any text editor will work.
Edit in response to comment: Yes, absolutely (although I think NetBeans does support Python). You'll find that IDEs are much less of a requirement when using a dynamic language like Python or Ruby, compared to Java or C#.
I would go with IntelliJ IDEA, it has a great python plugin.
Eclipse with PyDev is also nice, if you like open source.
I'm certain there are a number of IDEs with Python plugins (Eclipse and Emacs spring to mind) but there are two things you want to look for. The first is support for basic lint checking (little red squiggly concept) through some kind of tool (pylint or pychecker). The second is support for running the Python interpreter embedded into it.