Python Editor For Mac Os X

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I'm about to start a new job where the coding practices are heavily centered around TDD and refactoring, and whose primary development language is Python. I come from the Java world, and have been a confident user of Eclipse for a good, long time. When not working in Java, I use emacs.

I'm looking for an IDE for Python that will give me a lot of the capabilities I've grown used to with Eclipse, not only for refactoring but in terms of code completion, project management, SCM integration (currently CVS, but likely to switch to git one of these days) et al.

What IDE should I use?

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Dave Hillier

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Chris RChris R

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closed as off-topic by l4mpi, jb., Dismissile, Afzaal Ahmad Zeeshan, LarsTechMay 21 '14 at 14:07

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22 Answers

Have tried many different (Kate, Eclipse, Scite, Vim, Komodo): each one have some glitches, either limited functions, or slow and unresponsive. Final choice after many years: Emacs + ropemacs + flymake. Rope project file open dialog is extremely quick. Rope refactoring and code assist functions are super helpful. Flymake shows syntax mistakes. Emacs is the most configurable editor. I am very happy with this config. Python related part of config is here: public.halogen-dg.com browser/alex-emacs-settings/configs/cfg_python.el

user111443user111443

My 2 pennies, check out PyCharmhttp://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/

(also multi-platform)

TimTim

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I use TextMate for all my Python programming needs. It's not an IDE per se, but it does a lot of stuff that an IDE does (without all the cruft of an IDE). It has syntax highlighting, code folding, integration with various SCMs through the use of additional bundles (I know it supports SVN, Git, Mercurial, Darcs, and probably a few others). It's also quite extensible and customizable (again, through the use of bundles). It also has a basic concept of projects. One place where it doesn't shine, though, is in code completion; some bundles have limited support for code completion, but it's generally not as amazing as that of most language-specific IDEs. Given how awesome TextMate is, though, I don't know sacrificing that. TextMate's definitely made me much more productive.

mipadimipadi

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Pydev for Eclipse, as others have mentioned, is good.

Netbeans has a beta Python plugin that is a little rough around the edges, but could turn into something really cool.

Additionally there is a long list of programming centric text editors for the mac, that may or may not fit your needs.

Using Mac and having problems with finding best mac text editor? Don't worry, We have Listed Best Text Editors for Mac for Purpose of Programming in Terminal. Simple Mac OS Text Editors and Free Download. Supports PHP, JavaScript, HTML, Python etc which works in 2018. 5 Best Free HTML Editors for Web Developers on macOS by Andreas Hecht E veryone, who wants to develop websites, needs an HTML editor or rather a development environment. TextMate was once one of the best markup editors available on the Mac, but then development went stagnant. Now, version 2.0 is in alpha and the developer is keeping the app modern again. TextMate 2.0 holds a wonderful new tabbed interface, a symbol selector, support for 40 filetypes, fullscreen support for Lion, and line collapsing. Best web development editor for mac.

• Textmate - costs money, people love this program, but I haven't used it enough to see what all the fuss is about.
• Jedit - Java based text editor, has some nice features, but the startup time isn't great (due to Java).
• CarbonEmacs - Decent Emacs port.
• AquaEmacs - Better Emacs port.
• TextWrangler - Lite, free (as in beer) verision of BBEdit.
• BBEdit - The old guard. The defacto editor before Textmate stole its limelight. Expensive.
• Smultron - Very nice editor, the UI is similar to Textmate.
• Idle - Python's own little editor, has some nice features, but also some major problems. I've personally found it too unstable for my usage.
• Sublime Text - This is really sweet text editor that has some surprisingly good Python support.
• Pycharm - Another solid full on IDE for Python.

zekel

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James McMahonJames McMahon

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Eclipse with Pydev works best for me on any platform.

ismailismail

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I really enjoy using PyCharm. http://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/

jdsantiagojrjdsantiagojr

I usually use either komodo edit or aquamacs with ropemacs. Although I should warn you, IDE features won't be what you're used to if you're coming from a Java or C# background. I personally find that powerful IDEs get in my way more than they help.

UPDATE: I should also point out that if you have the money Komodo IDE is worth it. It's the paid version of Komodo Edit.

Jason BakerJason Baker

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lostlogiclostlogic

I like Spyder, it has many tools, such as profiling, intelligent indentation helper and a good autocompletion support

linellolinello

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If you have a budget for your IDE, you should give Wingware Professional a try, see wingware.com .

Alex MartelliAlex Martelli

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I've used WingIDE and have been very happy. Intellisense is pretty good, some other things are a bit wacky but overall it's a very productive tool

jeanjean

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If you are looking for an interactive environment and not needing to code modules, I would suggest IPython. Though this is developed with scientists/statisticians in mind, it will run just as well without any of the scientific packages installed. The features are powerful, with code completion, integrated help, integrated debugging, etc., and it functions as a notebook with Markdown and MathJax integration. By far the best choice for those that need powerful features without wishing to load megabytes of GUI into RAM--since it is browser based, it is used in your always loaded chrome/safari instance. ;-)

DallasDallas

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Eclipse PyDev plugin.

jbaskojbasko

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since you are familiar with Eclipse maybe you are interested in Pydev

KonstantinosKonstantinos

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Python support on netbeans is surprisingly good, and comes with most of the features you're looking for.

Up.Up.

TextMate or Panic's Coda. NetBeans works very well, if you want a full-blown kitchen sink IDE.

Jeff OberJeff Ober

I've searched on Google for an app like this for a while, and I've found only options with heavy and ugly interfaces.

Then I opened Mac App Store and found CodeRunner. Very nice and clean interface. Support many languages like Python, Lua, Perl, Ruby, Javascript, etc. The price is U$10, but it's worth it!

Jan K. S.Jan K. S.

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'Which editor/IDE for ..?' is a longstanding way to start a 'My dog is too prettier than yours!' slapfest. Nowadays most editors from vim upwards can be used, there are multiple good alternatives, and even IDEs that started as C or Java tools work pretty well with Python and other dynamic languages.

That said, having tried a bunch of IDEs (Eclipse, NetBeans, XCode, Komodo, PyCharm, ..), I am a fan of ActiveState's Komodo IDE. I use it on Mac OS X primarily, though I've used it for years on Windows as well. The one license follows you to any platform.

Komodo is well-integrated with popular ActiveState builds of the languages themselves (esp. for Windows), works well with the fabulous (and Pythonic) Mercurial change management system (among others), and has good-to-excellent abilities for core tasks like code editing, syntax coloring, code completion, real-time syntax checking, and visual debugging. It is a little weak when it comes to pre-integrated refactoring and code-check tools (e.g. rope, pylint), but it is extensible and has a good facility for integrating external and custom tools.

Some of the things I like about Komodo go beyond the write-run-debug loop. ActiveState has long supported the development community (e.g. with free language builds, package repositories, a recipes site, ..), since before dynamic languages were the trend. The base Komodo Edit editor is free and open source, an extension of Mozilla's Firefox technologies. And Komodo is multi-lingual. I never end up doing just Python, just Perl, or just whatever. Komodo works with the core language (Python, Perl, Ruby, PHP, JavaScript) alongside supporting languages (XML, XSLT, SQL, X/HTML, CSS), non-dynamic languages (Java, C, etc.), and helpers (Makefiles, INI and config files, shell scripts, custom little languages, etc.) Others can do that too, but Komodo puts them all in once place, ready to go. It's a Swiss Army Knife for dynamic languages. (This is contra PyCharm, e.g., which is great itself, but I'd need like a half-dozen of JetBrains' individual IDEs to cover all the things I do).

Komodo IDE is by no means perfect, and editors/IDEs are the ultimate YMMV choice. But I am regularly delighted to use it, and every year I re-up my support subscription quite happily. Indeed, I just remembered! That's coming up this month. Credit card: Out. I have no commercial connection to ActiveState--just a happy customer.

Jonathan EuniceJonathan Eunice

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You might want to look into Eclim, an Eclipse server that allows you to use Eclipse functionality from within your favorite text editor. For python-related functionality, it uses Rope, PyFlakes, and PyLint under the hood.

mindthiefmindthief

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I've been using an Evaluation copy of Sublime Text. What's good is it doesn't really expire.

It's been good so far and was really easy to get started with.

Sagar HatekarSagar Hatekar

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Best Python Editor For Mac Os X

I may be a little late for this, but I would recommend Aptana Studio 3.x . Its a based on eclipse and has everything ready-to-go for python. It has very good support for DJango, HTML5 and JQuery. For me its a perfect web-development tool. I do HTML5 and Android development too, this way I do not need to keep switching different IDE's. It my all-in-one solution.

Note: you need a good amount of RAM for this to be snazzy !! 4+ GB is awesome !!

Freakyuser

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NavNav

Visual Studio Code + Official Python Plugin

Here you see an overview of its current Python features:

Whether you're a weekend GoPro shooter or a full-time video professional, you need editing software that's powerful but easy to use. Here's how the best video editing software stacks up. How can the answer be improved? Best video editor app for mac. This is Apple’s free video editing software, and it runs on both Mac OS and iOS platforms, so you can do you video editing just about wherever you go. For hobbyist and amateur filmmakers, Apple iMovie will have approachable tools to help you easily take your footage and edit a video with a clear flow.

Chocolat

It's lightweight and offers Code Completion. Costs money.

EDIT:Apparently Chocolat was an interesting option in 2013 but since then many others came up and development stalled. Nowadays I recommend Visual Studio Code + Python Plugin.

Bijan

Python For Mac Os

Bijan

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Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged pythonmacoside or ask your own question.

Author

Bob Savage <bobsavage@mac.com>

Python on a Macintosh running Mac OS X is in principle very similar to Python onany other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such asthe IDE and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out.

4.1. Getting and Installing MacPython¶

Mac OS X 10.8 comes with Python 2.7 pre-installed by Apple. If you wish, youare invited to install the most recent version of Python 3 from the Pythonwebsite (https://www.python.org). A current “universal binary” build of Python,which runs natively on the Mac’s new Intel and legacy PPC CPU’s, is availablethere.

What you get after installing is a number of things:

• A Python3.7 folder in your Applications folder. In hereyou find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of officialPython distributions; PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Pythonscripts from the Finder; and the “Build Applet” tool, which allows you topackage Python scripts as standalone applications on your system.

• A framework /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework, which includes thePython executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shellpath. To uninstall MacPython, you can simply remove these three things. Asymlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/.

The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework and /usr/bin/python,respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they areApple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember thatif you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will havetwo different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it willbe important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do.

IDLE includes a help menu that allows you to access Python documentation. If youare completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introductionin that document.

If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read thesection on running Python scripts from the Unix shell.

4.1.1. How to run a Python script¶

Your best way to get started with Python on Mac OS X is through the IDLEintegrated development environment, see section The IDE and use the Help menuwhen the IDE is running.

If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or fromthe Finder you first need an editor to create your script. Mac OS X comes with anumber of standard Unix command line editors, vim andemacs among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor,BBEdit or TextWrangler from Bare Bones Software (seehttp://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html) are good choices, as isTextMate (see https://macromates.com/). Other editors includeGvim (http://macvim-dev.github.io/macvim/) and Aquamacs(http://aquamacs.org/).

To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that/usr/local/bin is in your shell search path.

To run your script from the Finder you have two options:

• Drag it to PythonLauncher

• Select PythonLauncher as the default application to open yourscript (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it.PythonLauncher has various preferences to control how your script islaunched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or useits Preferences menu to change things globally.

4.1.2. Running scripts with a GUI¶

With older versions of Python, there is one Mac OS X quirk that you need to beaware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words,anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use pythonwinstead of python to start such scripts.

With Python 3.7, you can use either python or pythonw.

4.1.3. Configuration¶

Python on OS X honors all standard Unix environment variables such asPYTHONPATH, but setting these variables for programs started from theFinder is non-standard as the Finder does not read your .profile or.cshrc at startup. You need to create a file~/.MacOSX/environment.plist. See Apple’s Technical Document QA1067 fordetails.

For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see sectionInstalling Additional Python Packages.

4.2. The IDE¶

Python Editor For Mac Os X

MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A goodintroduction to using IDLE can be found athttp://www.hashcollision.org/hkn/python/idle_intro/index.html.

4.3. Installing Additional Python Packages¶

Download Python Editor

There are several methods to install additional Python packages:

Python Text Editor Mac

• Packages can be installed via the standard Python distutils mode (pythonsetup.pyinstall).

• Many packages can also be installed via the setuptools extensionor pip wrapper, see https://pip.pypa.io/.

4.4. GUI Programming on the Mac¶

There are several options for building GUI applications on the Mac with Python.

The Exchanger XML Editor is a Java-based product that provides unique functionality for viewing, authoring and editing XML data and documents. Exchanger xml editor for mac. Exchanger XML Editor is a professional multi platform XML development environment which allows for Validation, Transformation, Viewing and Editing of XML in 5 different views, with extensive support for XML Schema, RelaxNG and DTD based editing, tag prompting and validation. The Exchanger XML Editor is a Java-based XML Editor that facilitates easy browsing, editing, managing and conversion of XML Documents. It features XML Schema, RelaxNG and DTD based editing. Exchanger XML Editor is a Java-based XML Editor that facilitates easy browsing, editing, managing and conversion of XML documents. It features XML Schema, RelaxNG and DTD based editing, tag prompting and validation, tree view and outliner for tag free editing, XPath and regular expression searches, schema conversion, XSLT, XQuery and XSLFO transformations, comprehensive project.

PyObjC is a Python binding to Apple’s Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which isthe foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC isavailable from https://pypi.org/project/pyobjc/.

The standard Python GUI toolkit is tkinter, based on the cross-platformTk toolkit (https://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with OSX by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed fromhttps://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source.

wxPython is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively onMac OS X. Packages and documentation are available from https://www.wxpython.org.

PyQt is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on MacOS X. More information can be found athttps://riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro.

4.5. Distributing Python Applications on the Mac¶

The “Build Applet” tool that is placed in the MacPython 3.6 folder is fine forpackaging small Python scripts on your own machine to run as a standard Macapplication. This tool, however, is not robust enough to distribute Pythonapplications to other users.

Python On The Mac

The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac ispy2app. More information on installing and using py2app can be foundat http://undefined.org/python/#py2app.

4.6. Other Resources¶

The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users anddevelopers on the Mac:

Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki: