I personally think that Visual Studio is the best IDE, and I spend most of my day in it. And I’d definitely by using Visual Studio as much as I can – if you are on Windows, Visual Studio’s Python support is worth exploring.
I’d leave the choice up to you. Both IDE have free and paid options.
I think Visual Studio is an engineering marvel. If as much effort went into space travel as went into the design of this, we’d be on Mars by now.
That said if you prefer to use PyCharm:
- Please go to https://www.jetbrains.com/student/ and get your free full blown tools offered by Jet Brains, with all bells and whistles.
- Here are two YouTube video series if you want:
Getting Started with PyCharm:
PyCharm Video Demos:
If you want to use Visual Studio:
- Get the free Visual Studio 2015 Community from : https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-community-vs.aspx
- Download Python Tools for Visual Studio from : https://microsoft.github.io/PTVS/ (check out their video for more info) and click “Latest Build” link on the top right corner.
Personal Opinion:
I also like Jet Brains, the company behind some of my personal favorites : ReSharper ( for .NET ) & TeamCity ( Continuous Integration ). I find their IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm & Android Studio very slow on some computers.
I could’ve literally boil eggs on my laptop when compiling Android App in an Android Studio. On the same computer, Visual Studio worked flawless.
Other alternative is light weight editors:
- Visual Studio Code (and it’s Marketplace)
- Atom– by GitHub – [ GitHub’s cool Atom commercial ]
- Brackets by Adobe
- Sublime Text
- TextMate (Mac)
- gedit, emacs, vim, NotePad++ etc …
Also, I use something called “Anaconda” (data sci. platform) on my machine : https://www.continuum.io/downloads
Here are some GitHub tools :
- Tower ( Mac )
- Git for Windows
- SourceTree ( Windows & Mac )
- GiHub Desktop ( Windows & Mac )
- Git Web UI ( Windows, Linux & Mac )
Diff Tools for resolving conflicts
- Tortoise Merge, WinMerge, P4 Merge Tool may be integrated with SourceTree. The paid alternative could be Beyond Compare for Windows and Mac.
- If you’re using Tower on Mac please refer to : http://www.git-tower.com/blog/diff-tools-mac
Python for C# developers:
(The presenter in the following video, nicely helps you map C# to Python, but does not seem to accurately capture Visual Studio’s Python support. I find Visual Studio better please refer to the YouTube video above in the Visual Studio section)
Hope that helps, may the source be with you!
Aarsh 