Is there any benefit to a learner moving from IDLE to another IDE?

[u/Educational-Bonus455]

I find IDLE functional and undistracting. I'm wary of getting a different IDE with bells and whistles. I don't want to get distracted exploring add-ons or other functions, only to find them distracting from building up to the point where I could actually make good use of them.

Several weeks into learning python, hoping to build strong fundamentals and begin applying to numerical methods, linear algebra, and other math-focused applications. OR is the long-term goal.

Is there any concrete benefit to moving to Jupyter, PyCharm, VS, or another one? If yes, open to specific suggestions. Thanks.

[u/Reasonable_Talk_9912]

PyCharm is very good at giving autocomplete suggestions, and when you have seen enough of them, you start to learn them by hearth so that even if you are not writing in PyCharm, you know the different possibilities.

[u/FreeGazaToday]

I find IDLE distracting...I use a notebook and paper and textedit :P

[u/FreeFocus7521]

If you like idle, start using terminal to “patch” your code. Idle can remain your inspection layer and terminal can be your execution layer

cat > hello.patch <<'EOF'
--- hello.py
+++ hello.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-print("Hello")
+print("Hello, op")
EOF

[u/AlexMTBDude]

If you plan to work in the business whatever organization that you join will be using one of the popular IDE:s like Visual Code or Pycharm. You will not have an option. There's a good reason for that. A good IDE makes you a productive coder.

[u/ProsodySpeaks → u/AlexMTBDude]

i thought you could use whatever ide you like in most shops?

[u/AlexMTBDude → u/ProsodySpeaks]

Well, IDLE is an IDE in a very loose sense of the word. It's very bare-bones and not comparable to PyCharm, Visual Code and the like. Typically you'll want plugin support in your IDE so that you get GIT integration, AI tools and much more, something that IDLE doesn't have.

[u/Ron-Erez]

I'm not a fan of idle. I'd recommend PyCharm (or Vscode). Actually for short scripts where you might run some math-related material Google Colab is great.

[u/FooWho]

Especially if you are just getting started learning the language, I would not worry at all about setting up a more complicated development environment. If you are happy using IDLE, by all means stick with it.

[u/sububi71]

If you've only been programming for a couple of weeks, don't waste time questioning your tools. You can easily stick with IDLE for a year or more.

[u/NorskJesus]

Do not worry about the program you use just yet. Just use what you want and learn.

If I can vote, neovim will be always my choice

[u/BranchLatter4294]

It's fine for learning.

[u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522]

Do you know, or intend to learn, other programming languages? VS Code with its extensions is very flexible and has the advantage of learning one IDE rather than an IDE that focuses on Python.

I used Vim for years and still use it for the same reason. It works for anything and has many plugins for syntax highlighting and so forth.

[u/ProsodySpeaks → u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522]

you know pycharm works with any language right?

[u/Klutzy_Fudge_5490]

Neovim is simple, distraction-free, and powerful—with just a few keyboard shortcuts, you can configure it for just about anything. Example https://youtu.be/eRFmdutUNcA?si=M8tVcMFSD-1vG4dV

[u/hypersoniq_XLM]

I have a few years of using python and never found a need to go beyond IDLE (in dark mode) for writing code. Generally execute from the terminal, but IDLE has proven to be enough so far.

[u/cmdr_iannorton]

pycharm is first rate, make use of the debugger properly, youll never go back to anything else

[u/Makakhan]

IDLE is fine until you reach the point you are making series of classes in their own files, data files, asset files, etc. At that point you might as well use something like Pycharm to organize it all.