Unit 3: Software Development Tools

3.2 Integrated Development Environment

What is an IDE?

An IDE is a programming environment which provides many facilities to software programmers. Usually it consists of an editor, software build automation and debugger.

Usually you can not programme every programming language with each IDE.

Some of the most popular IDEs are

PyCharm *
anaconda *
spyder *
eclipse *
Visual Studio *
and many more

In this course we are using PyCharm on a Windows 10 system!

PyCharm

PyCharm is an IDE from JetBrains company for the programming language Python.
There is a free, open source community version and a professional version. With the community version, pure Python projects can be created. The professional version offers additional support, e.g. for HTML, JS and SQL.

Download PyCharm

Downlaod the software PyCharm*. There you will find a professional and a community version. Please download the community version of PyCharm. After downloading install this program on your computer.

The system requirements are

64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows 10, 8
minimum: 2 GB RAM, recommended: 8 GB RAM
2.5 GB free hard disk space, SSD recommended
min. screen resolution 1024x768
Python 2.7 or Python 3.5 or later

Installation

Download and install latest Python from here*.
Start downloaded .exe file of PyCharm and follow installation guide.
After successful Installation start PyCharm from desktop or start menu (you will find it in the folder JetBrains).
1. On first start read and confirm JetBrains Privacy Policy. Furthermore choose if you want to send anonymous statistics or not.
2. Afterwards customize your PyCharm after your preferences (I prefer "Dracula") and click on next.
3. On next page click "Start using PyCharm", no installation necessary so far.
On Welcome screen click on "New Project".
On next screen define your folder where you want to store your project and check the radio button on "New environment using". Then click on Create - button.

What is a project?

Works and results are combined in a project. It groups them into buildable and reusable units. A project again is a directory.

Starting a new project in PyCharm

Choose File → New Project... and give your new project a name

File → New Python File

Start editing!

Standard Libraries

Standard Libraries are collections of already implemented functionalities, e.g. graphics, mathematical functions, functions for data access. The big advantage is reusability. That means, that it is easier to maintain, functions can be used multiple times, you have to write less source code and there is a reduction of error susceptibility.

Compiling and Running

You don’t compile your program; PyCharm does that automatically while you are typing. It also points out errors as you go along. The first time you run your program, choose Run → Run → main.py

After that, you can just click the green circle with a triangle in it or you can use the drop-down list to the right of the green circle to choose a particular program to run.

Debugger

While programming logical errors can happen. They produce incorrect results when the program is executed. Neither compiler nor simple program recognize the error. That means, the error is caused by incorrect program logic or input errors. Thus, sometimes you need to debug your code.

A debugger is a tool you can use to search for logical errors. You can interrupt the debugging process (breakpoints), run the code line by line, and monitor variables.

Additional Hints and Online Tutorials

Explore the menus! There’s a lot of great stuff there.

First introduction PyCharm GetStarted *.
Explanations and hints about PyCharm by edureka *.
Learning Platfrom learnpython *
… and many others!

* You will be forwarded to an external page. We are not responsible for the content of this site. There may be other regulations regarding data protection.