
Ask HN: Best Free Python Editor? - _bxg1
I recently started working in Python and reached straight for VSCode, because it&#x27;s been so great for other languages. But its Python plugin is... extremely underwhelming. MyPy&#x2F;Pylint checks don&#x27;t run until you save, take several seconds, and don&#x27;t even place the underlines in the right place; they all end up at the start of the line. Autocomplete support is minimal.<p>I know PyCharm exists, but is there a free editor that does a better job than VSCode?<p>Edit: Excluding text-based editors (vi&#x2F;emacs); I&#x27;m not a fan
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tjpnz
I would recommend PyCharm Community Edition. If you're doing web development
you will be missing a few nice to haves but the experience otherwise is
virtually indistinguishable from the professional edition.

~~~
_bxg1
I assumed it had a "non-commercial use only" license, but looks like it
doesn't! That could be perfect.

~~~
isoprophlex
I use pycharm daily and have nothing but praise for it. The free edition will
probably take you very far, if you want the database features of the paid
version there's always DBeaver

~~~
kelsolaar
Same here, I'm typing that while having it running in the background along
with CLion. Some of us benefit from a free license to their entire toolbox via
the work on Colour ([https://www.colour-science.org/](https://www.colour-
science.org/)). Their support has been helping us for over half a decade.

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s1t5
Make sure that your VSCode is set up correctly - I'm not experiencing any of
the problems that you're describing.

~~~
_bxg1
I'm using the official Python extension, made by Microsoft itself.

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eddyg
Did you add Microsoft's Pyright[0] extension as well?

It works hand-in-hand with the Python extension and makes VS Code a fantastic
Python editor IMO. You may want to set _pyright.disableLanguageServices_ in
settings since there is some overlap in the Pyright and Python extensions that
can result in duplicate results. (I'm not sure if you _lose_ any Pyright
features when you do this though...)

[0] [https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-
pyrig...](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-
pyright.pyright)

~~~
_bxg1
No, I didn't know about that one; the base one has MyPy and Pylint integration
so I assumed it was the best version of each that they planned on
implementing. I wonder why they would break out the "good version" into a
separate extension.

~~~
eddyg
I've always found pylint to be pretty useless... see for example
[https://lukeplant.me.uk/blog/posts/pylint-false-
positives/](https://lukeplant.me.uk/blog/posts/pylint-false-positives/)

I always _pip install flake8_ in my venvs and the standard Python extension
can also use that just fine:

    
    
        "python.linting.pylintEnabled": false,
        "python.linting.flake8Enabled": true,

~~~
_bxg1
It's what we use at my workplace; not my call to make

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rs23296008n1
Notepad++ is a good tool. It knows python and mostly gets out of your way. Its
not an IDE but has a lot of related functionality. But I certainly edit all my
python code with it.

Then again, I use command line tools for linting etc. so I don't need a lot
built-in to the editor.

~~~
cvaidya1986
+1 for notepad++

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coryalthoff
The free version of PyCharm is great.

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AlexCoventry
It's been a couple of years since I wrote python seriously, but MyPy/Pylint
annotations were showing up nicely in emacs, IIRC.

~~~
jdfellow
Emacs has been working for me for several years now.

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smitty1e
> Excluding text-based editors (vi/emacs); I'm not a fan

How about both together? =>
[https://www.spacemacs.org/](https://www.spacemacs.org/)

The git integration under [https://magit.vc/](https://magit.vc/) alone is
worth the price of admission.

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zacssite
I do a lot of Python development, both at work and for fun at home. Can’t
recommend Sublime Text enough.

~~~
sdan
I actually can’t use anything other than sublime. Nothing beats its simplicity
and lack of complex buttons.

~~~
mlboss
And speed

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ageitgey
PyCharm Community Edition is open source, free and great.

~~~
dotancohen
I came here to mention PyCharm.

Note that PyCharm also has a VIM plugin that is the best VIM plugin I've used
on any editor. It does 95% of what I would do in real VIM.

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davidgaleano
Vim with coc-python works very well for me: [https://github.com/neoclide/coc-
python](https://github.com/neoclide/coc-python)

“Built with rich support for the Python language (for all actively supported
versions of the language: 2.7, >=3.5), including features such as linting,
IntelliSense, code navigation, code formatting, refactoring, snippets, and
more!”

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bhaprayan
Nvim + Coc (either MPLS or Jedi, both work good), way faster, and definitely
worth the learning curve if you're new to modal text editors :)

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tootie
I'm curious what you switched from that is giving you FOMO right now. If
you've mostly worked in strongly-typed languages, you simply can't get the
same kind of IDE experience with something like Python. The tools have come a
long way and are at least decent now, but will never be as sharp as they will
be for languages like C# or Java.

~~~
_bxg1
Compared to the TypeScript experience in the same editor, the Python
experience is terrible. A little bit of that can be attributed to Python's
type system being less powerful than TypeScript, but most of it is not. Things
like auto-imports, deep autocomplete, instant feedback on the errors it's able
to detect, etc should be perfectly doable.

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rmk
PyCharm community ed is free. Sublime Text is very good (it's nagware).

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reactor
[https://www.spyder-ide.org/](https://www.spyder-ide.org/) quite nice.

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siquick
Has anyone ever managed to get autoformatting (Prettier etc) working on Django
templates in VS Code?

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arno_v
I've been using Atom for a few years, with a few Python plugins it works
really nicely!

~~~
_bxg1
Maybe I'll give Atom a try. I switched from it to VSCode a few years ago
because it just wasn't as stable and didn't perform as well, but if the Python
support is better it could be worth it.

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askafriend
PyCharm is too bloated and under-designed for me.

I prefer Atom. Simple, fast, and pretty.

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vendevillem
Same here, Pycharm community edition, works like a charm ;)

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_ZeD_
do yourself a favour and try liclipse (or eclipse with pydev)

[https://www.pydev.org/](https://www.pydev.org/)

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vezycash
On Windows, Mu Code is best editor for beginners.

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polskibus
visual studio community with python tools

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pdar4123
Honestly ppl: vim or emacs - the rest is fluff

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SanchoPanda
Sublime is fluff?

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zerr
PyScripter

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ken
Python is a text-based language. Aren't all these editors "text-based"? You
know you don't have to run Emacs in a terminal emulator, right? It's had mouse
support for decades.

~~~
_bxg1
I don't want to have to memorize a litany of new keyboard shortcuts to do
basic tasks.

~~~
kleer001
spacemacs is built with hot key discovery AND modal editing makes it even
easier

but, you know, if you don't want to try, then don't

