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<h1>Development Environments</h1>

<p>A development environment is a combination of a text editor and the Python

interpreter. The text editor allows you to write the code. The interpreter

provides a way to execute the code you've written. A text editor can be

as simple as Notepad on Windows or more complicated as a complete integrated

development environment (IDE) such as

<a href="https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/">PyCharm</a> which runs on any major

operating system.</p>

<h2>Why is a development environment necessary?</h2>

<p>Python code needs to be written, executed and tested to build

applications. The text editor provides a way to write the code. The

interpreter allows it to be executed. Testing to see if the code does what

you want can either be done manually or by unit and functional tests. </p>

<div class="well see-also">While you're learning about development environments be sure to check out information on <a href="/vim.html">Vim</a> and <a href="/emacs.html">Emacs</a>.</div>

<h2>A development environment example</h2>

<p>Here's what I (the author of Full Stack Python,

<a href="/about-author.html">Matt Makai</a>) use to develop most of my Python

applications. I have a Macbook Pro with Mac OS X as its base operating

system. <a href="/operating-systems.html">Ubuntu 14.04 LTS</a> is virtualized on top

with <a href="https://www.parallels.com/">Parallels</a>. My code is written in

<a href="http://www.vim.org/">vim</a> and executed with the

<a href="https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7.8/">Python 2.7.x</a> interpreter

via the command line. I use virtualenv to create separate Python interpreters

with their own isolated

<a href="/application-dependencies.html">application dependencies</a> and

<a href="http://virtualenvwrapper.readthedocs.org/en/latest/">virtualenvwrapper</a>

to quickly switch between the interpreters created by virtualenv.</p>

<p>That's a common set up but you can certainly write great code with a much

less expensive set up or a cloud-based development environment.</p>

<h2>Open source text editors</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<p><a href="http://www.vim.org/">vim</a> is my editor of choice and installed by default

on most *nix systems.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">emacs</a> is another editor often used

on *nix.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="https://atom.io/">Atom</a> is an open source editor built by the

<a href="https://github.com">GitHub</a> team.</p>

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Proprietary (closed source) editors</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<p><a href="http://www.sublimetext.com/">Sublime Text</a> versions 2 and 3 (currently

in beta) are popular text editors that can be extended with code completion,

linting, syntax highlighting and other features using plugins.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://komodoide.com/">Komodo</a> is a cross-platform text editor and IDE

for major languages including Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Go and more.</p>

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Python-specific IDEs</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<p><a href="https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/">PyCharm</a> is a Python-specific IDE

built on <a href="https://www.jetbrains.com/">JetBrains</a>' platform. There are

free editions for students and open source projects.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="https://wingware.com/">Wing IDE</a> is a paid development environment with

integrated debugging and code completion.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://pydev.org/">PyDev</a> is a Python IDE plug in for

<a href="https://www.eclipse.org/">Eclipse</a>.</p>

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Hosted development environment services</h2>

<p>In the past couple of years several cloud-based development environments

have popped up. These can work great for when you're learning or stuck on

a machine with only a browser but no way to install your own software. Most

of these have free tiers for getting started and paid tiers as you scale

up your application.</p>

<ul>

<li>

<p><a href="https://www.nitrous.io/">Nitrous.io</a></p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="https://c9.io/">Cloud9</a></p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="https://www.terminal.com/">Terminal</a></p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="https://koding.com/">Koding</a></p>

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Development environment resources</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<p>If you're considering the cloud-based development environment route, check

out this

<a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/08/14/cloud9-koding-nitrousio-integrated-development-environment-ide-coding">great article comparing Cloud9, Koding and Nitrous.io</a>

by Lauren Orsini. She also explains more about what a cloud IDE is and is

not.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>Real Python has an awesome, detailed post on

<a href="https://realpython.com/blog/python/setting-up-sublime-text-3-for-full-stack-python-development/">setting up your Sublime Text 3 environment</a>

as a full-fledged IDE.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>The <a href="http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/dev/env/">Hitchhiker's Guide to Python</a>

has a page dedicated to development environments.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://pedrokroger.net/choosing-best-python-ide/">Choosing the best Python IDE</a>

is a review of six IDEs. PyCharm, Wing IDE and PyDev stand out above the

other three in this review.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://nafiulis.me/pycharm-the-good-parts-i.html">PyCharm: The Good Parts</a>

shows you how to be more efficient and productive with that IDE if it's

your choice for writing Python code.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>JetBrains' <a href="http://blog.jetbrains.com/pycharm/">PyCharm Blog</a> is required

reading if you're using the IDE or considering trying it. One of the

core developers also an interview on the

<a href="http://talkpython.fm/episodes/show/36/python-ides-with-the-pycharm-teama">Talk Python to Me podcast</a>

that's worth listening to.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="https://opensourcehacker.com/2015/05/02/pycharm-vs-sublime-text/">PyCharm vs Sublime Text</a>

has a comparison of several features between the two editors.</p>

</li>

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