Python - Development Tools

Development Tools in Python

Python has a rich ecosystem of tools that help developers write, debug, test, and maintain their code. Below is a list of some important Python development tools grouped by category:

Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)

IDEs are feature-rich environments that support Python development with code completion, debugging, testing, version control, and more.

PyCharm (Community and Staff Reference) 

Developed by JetBrains, it provides powerful tools for code analysis, debugging, recompensing, and testing. It supports web development frameworks like Django and Flask.

Visual Studio Codes (VSCode) 

A lightweight, open-source code editor with strong Python extension support.

Things like IntelliSense, debugging, terminal integration, and Git integration.

Jupiter's Notebook

It is mainly used for data science, machine learning, and prototyping.

An interactive environment that supports rich media (charts, images) and inline code execution.

The spider

An open-source IDE mainly for data science, it provides a MATLAB-like interface.

It is integrated with popular scientific libraries such as NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib.

Eclipse and PyDev

Eclipse can be extended for Python development using the PyDev plugin.It provides debugging, interactive console, code analysis, and testing.

Text Editors

The text editor is popular with Python developers for lightweight development or quick modifications:

Sublime Text

It is highly customizable, lightweight, and fast with Python support through plugins.

Atom

It is an open-source, hackable text editor that supports Python through plugins like ide-python.

Vim/Neovim

A command-line-based text editor that can be developed for Python using plugins such as ale, jedi-vim, and pylint-vim.

Testing Frameworks

In Python, development testing is crucial, and there are several common testing tools:

unittest

It is a texting framework that offers a comprehensive set of tools for creating and executing tests in the xUnit testing framework style.

Example

Let's demonstrate the unnittest with an example:

import unittest
class TestMyFunction(unittest.TestCase):
    def test_addition(self):
        self.assertEqual(1 + 1, 2)        

if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

Pytest

It is an advanced testing framework with more features than unittest.

pip install pytest
pytest

tox 

It is used for testing across multiple Python environments.

pip install tox
tox

Logging

Logging is an important part of Python applications, allowing developers to track events, errors, and application flow. Python's built-in logging module provides a simple framework for issuing log messages from your code.

Example

This example shows the basic logging uses, the simplest way to start logging is by using the logging module’s basic configuration.

import logging
# Configure basic logging
# Set log level to DEBUG
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
logging.debug("This is a debug message")
logging.info("This is an info message")
logging.warning("This is a warning message")
logging.error("This is an error message")
logging.critical("This is a critical message")