PyCharm

[Brian Jones]

I've been using PyCharm since the very first EAP releases, and downloaded
1.0 yesterday. I've tested out so many IDEs for use with Python, but PyCharm
is the only one that gives me everything I want with just about zero work.
Here's what won me over:

1. I can set up nose and coverage as a Run configuration, so I can run tests
the way I want to with the click of the 'Run' button.

2. Best vim emulation of any IDE ever, and I'll note here that I used Komodo
for some time.

3. The code inspections actually have saved me a good bit of work. In
addition, they've helped me keep my code cleaner: it identifies unused
variables, methods, and imports very well. It also has an autoimport
feature, so if you reference a library you don't have imported yet, it'll
suggest a lib to import, which you can accept with a keystroke. If more than
one lib is a possibility, the UI for choosing which one to import is nicely
done.

4. If I just want to create a file, I can. If I want to open a directory I
can. It's not shoving its worldview down my throat by making me start
whatever its notion of a "project" is. Yes, it puts a '.idea' directory in
directories it opens, but I haven't seen that become an issue.

5. Git integration: the git integration piece might be the one piece that
they got right early on: I never had any problems with it.

6. You can see a diff against local history, the current branch version,
etc., pretty much no matter where you are in the interface. If you decide to
push changes, and when the commit message dialog comes up you find yourself
forgetting what you did, you can get a diff launched right from that window,
and it's a decent diff interface.

There are a few things I *don't* like about it, but they're pretty minor:

1. Only one default theme choice. It'd be nice to supply multiple themes and
let me edit one instead of creating one from scratch.

2. docstrings: I find their docstring handling to be a little clunky. For
one example, if you do this before declaring any classes in your module:
"""
this is a docstring
"""
It'll highlight that and tell you "this code appears to do nothing"

3. The Python interpreter is a little awkward. It's pretty obvious that
there are two separate windows for input and output, and things are just
being piped back and forth. There's a noticeable lag, and it's kind of
annoying for someone who types fast and is used to the cli interpreter. As
it stands, the cli interpreter is about the only thing I actually leave
PyCharm for.

4. If you have a popup dialog open, the entire rest of the application is
dead, so you can't scroll or switch files in your code pane when a dialog
comes up. So when you want to know why that extra file is in your commit,
you'll have to cancel out or run the diff tool.

Overall, though, this is the best IDE for Python I've seen, and I'm sure
it'll get even better with time.

hth.
brian


On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 8:49 PM, alex23 <wuwei23 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Jeffrey Gaynor <jgay... at ncsa.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> > Certainly give it a shot. The only other IDE I found that was
> > remotely close to it was Komodo which costs a lot more
> > (Jetbrains is offering a 50% off coupon as a promotional offer
> > for a while.)
>
> I recently tried out PyCharm in anger after something (I forget what)
> in Komodo was bothering me. In Komodo's defence, it supports Perl,
> PHP, Python & Ruby, two of which I use daily, so replacing it would
> require my buying two IDEs: PyCharm & PHPStorm.
>
> It would just be a damn sight easier if I didn't have to suffer under
> PHP :(
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>



-- 
Brian K. Jones
My Blog          http://www.protocolostomy.com
Follow me      http://twitter.com/bkjones
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