H2O Member | Sat Jun 13, 2020 | 11:04 PM | Likes: 3 

Sublime Text vs. Pycharm, Which One is Better?

Categories: Tech | Pubby Cash Received:  20 |

Text editor is essential for python programming. Specifically, the default notepad that comes with the computer should be avoided, as it does not provide the debugging ability. The text editors programmers use have a fancy name: IDE, which is the abbreviation of Integrated Development Environment. IDE provides features like autocomplete, libraries, compiling, debugging, executing, etc., in one place to make tasks simpler. So far I've used PyCharm for several months and just switched to Sublime Text. Here is a review of what I feel about the two IDEs. 1. Both Pycharm and Sublime Text have the free version and the paid version. The paid version of PyCharm costs $199 per user per year, while the paid version of Sublime Text cost $80 per user. As for the free version, PyCharm is more clean, while Sublime Text prompt you to purchase from time to time when you are trying to save a file, which can be annoying. 2. PyCharm creates a virtual environment, which makes the launching process long. If you have an old computer like I do, it takes over 1 minute to launch the program. Sublime Text is more clean and opens in the blink of an eye, and thus is better in this aspect. 3. PyCharm is more GUI based, as you can click a button to run a py file after you add it to the configurations. Sublime Text is more terminal based. You must run command lines in terminal windows to test your file. But it does not slow you down at all as long as you are experienced in doing this. 4. Sublime Text has some cool features such as generating dummy text by typing "lorem" in an HTML file, populating a schema of an HTML file by typing "html", freely enlarging and reducing font sizes on screen by pressing Ctrl + or Ctrl -, auto wrapping codes, freely changing indentation styles, displaying codes full screen, etc, that PyCharm does not have. My preference goes towards Sublime Text at this time, as it speeds up my old computer. There are some other well-known python IDEs, such as Spyder, Pydev, Idle, Atom, Jupyter Notebook, etc. I could try them all one day.