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PyCharm vs Visual Studio Code: What are the differences?
PyCharm: The Most Intelligent Python IDE. PyCharm’s smart code editor provides first-class support for Python, JavaScript, CoffeeScript, TypeScript, CSS, popular template languages and more. Take advantage of language-aware code completion, error detection, and on-the-fly code fixes!; Visual Studio Code: Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft. Build and debug modern web and cloud applications. Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows.
PyCharm and Visual Studio Code are primarily classified as "Integrated Development Environment" and "Text Editor" tools respectively.
"Smart auto-completion", "Intelligent code analysis" and "Powerful refactoring" are the key factors why developers consider PyCharm; whereas "Powerful multilanguage IDE", "Fast" and "Front-end develop out of the box" are the primary reasons why Visual Studio Code is favored.
Visual Studio Code is an open source tool with 78.4K GitHub stars and 10.9K GitHub forks. Here's a link to Visual Studio Code's open source repository on GitHub.
PedidosYa, Yahoo!, and triGo GmbH are some of the popular companies that use Visual Studio Code, whereas PyCharm is used by Lyft, Abilian, and Critizr. Visual Studio Code has a broader approval, being mentioned in 1104 company stacks & 2298 developers stacks; compared to PyCharm, which is listed in 357 company stacks and 507 developer stacks.
UPDATE: Thanks for the great response. I am going to start with VSCode based on the open source and free version that will allow me to grow into other languages, but not cost me a license ..yet.
I have been working with software development for 12 years, but I am just beginning my journey to learn to code. I am starting with Python following the suggestion of some of my coworkers. They are split between Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA for IDEs that they use and PyCharm is new to me. Which IDE would you suggest for a beginner that will allow expansion to Java, JavaScript, and eventually AngularJS and possibly mobile applications?

Pycharm is great for python development, but can feel sometimes slow and community version has Somme very annoying restrictions (like they disabled jupyter notebooks plugin and made it premium feature). I personally started looking into VS Code as an alternative, and it has some very good potential. I suggest you take it into account.

The Community version of PyCharm is free and should give you what you need to get started with Python. Both PyCharm and IntelliJ are made by JetBrains. IntelliJ is initially focused on Java but you can get plugins for lots of other things. I subscribe to JetBrains' Toolbox: https://www.jetbrains.com/toolbox-app/ and have access to all of their great tools.

Hi, I will give my opinion based on my experience. I have used PyCharm, both community and Professional version. The community has limited functions, like you can't use a Jupyter notebook whereas it's available in the Professional version. PyCharm is slower compared to Visual Studio Code. Also Visual Studio Code is an editor which supports various languages. I myself have used both Visual Studio Code and PyCharm. I feel Visual Studio Code would be better choice. You may as well decide based upon your requirements.

I couldn't imagine using a development tool other than the IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate All Products Pack. A single license allows me to work directly on my server running Ubuntu and/or my workstation running Windows 10 Pro simultaneously. My current project uses HTML, W3CSS, JavaScript, Java, Groovy, Grails, C, GO, Python, Flask, and Rust. For me it's worth every penny of the $150 license fee. And you can try it for free.

Visual Studio code is easy to use, has a good UI, and a large community. Python works great with it, but unlike some other editors, it works with most languages either by default or by downloading a plugin. VS Code has built in linting, syntax coloring, autocompletes (IntelliSense), and an api for plugins to do there own tooling.

I'd personally recommend Visual Studio Code as it gives you the flexibility of working in any language, so long as there are extensions to support it. It gives you the flexibility to learn Python, venture into Java, Javascript, and eventually AngularJS, and potentially mobile applications. It's also free and you can install it on your personal computer. I think Visual Studio Code would serve your intended use case best.

If you starting with Python then PyCharm is better. For Java I would suggest to go with IntelliJ IDEA but people also prefer eclipse so I would say try both and then decide. For JS/Angular/React I would suggest go with VSCode. I personally use it and prefer as its light weight and have good integration with chrome for frontend development.
PyCharm, IntelliJ IDEA are both products of JetBrains. They have a free (limited feature) and paid edition. Eclipse is free. VSCode is also free.

IntelliJ really is the best for Java, I switched from eclipse years ago and never looked back. As for javascript, python and angular either using the standalone products from jetbrains (pycharm for python, webstorm for js) or installing the relevant plugins for InteliJ will be your best bet. Pycharm etc. are really just InteliJ with some additional plugins installed.

Easy to learn and everything you need

This is a very easy to use tool and gives you the opportunity to start coding right after the installation with almost everything setup automatically by the tool.
New to Python program development. Looking for the environment to create, modify, test and debug machine-learning applications. Data currently reside in Visual FoxPro .dbf tables, and I would like to read these directly. Will transfer data to SQLite or another DBMS if necessary.
Thanks to everyone for your kind assistance.

Hey, I would go with PyCharm especially since you are new to Python. It's an all-ready IDE for Python specifically so you can start right away and I find that debugging & refactoring on it is much easier than on VS code.

Hey there! Since you are new to Python I would recommend using Pycharm for a while the IDE really helps in you in quickly grasping the new syntax and stuff. But yes, eventually you should shift to VS Code.

This really depends on how extendible you want your environment to be.
VS Code has a massive library of community supported plugins to choose from.
PyCharm has a more native python dev experience. I've found the code completion to be better and the builtin testing, debugging, and venv management are fantastic!

I recommend following Mr Rathi's advice. Pycharm will get you accustomed to an IDE and you will probably find yourself shifting to VScode within a few weeks. I am not an expert in machine-learning but if you find yourself using genetic algorithms and/or cellular automata you're best with at least 8Gb RAM and VSCode.
PythonAnywhere and Try It Online are also good sandboxes for, well, trying stuff out! In Python and many other coding langs.
Lightweight and versatile. Huge library of extensions that enable you to integrate a host of services to your development environment. VS Code's biggest strength is its library of extensions which enables it to directly compete with every single major IDE for almost all major programming languages.
Visual Studio Code became famous over the past 3+ years I believe. The clean UI, easy to use UX and the plethora of integrations made it a very easy decision for us. Our gripe with Sublime was probably only the UX side. VSCode has not failed us till now, and still is able to support our development env without any significant effort.
Goland being paid, as well as built only for Go seemed like a significant limitation to not consider it.
I decided to choose VSCode over Sublime text for my Systems Programming class in C. What I love about VSCode is its awesome ability to add extensions. Intellisense is a beautiful debugger, and Remote SSH allows me to login and make real-time changes in VSCode to files on my university server. This is an awesome alternative to going back and forth on pushing/pulling code and logging into servers in the terminal. Great choice for anyone interested in C programming!
Pros of PyCharm
- Smart auto-completion105
- Intelligent code analysis88
- Powerful refactoring74
- Virtualenv integration57
- Git integration50
- Support for Django20
- Multi-database integration9
- VIM integration7
- Vagrant integration4
- In-tool Bash and Python shell3
- Plugin architecture2
- Docker2
- Debug mode support docker1
- Perforce integration1
- Emacs keybinds1
Pros of Visual Studio Code
- Powerful multilanguage IDE328
- Fast293
- Front-end develop out of the box185
- Support TypeScript IntelliSense152
- Very basic but free137
- Git integration117
- Intellisense101
- Faster than Atom74
- Better ui, easy plugins, and nice git integration48
- Great Refactoring Tools41
- Good Plugins40
- Terminal38
- Superb markdown support36
- Open Source34
- Extensions28
- Awesome UI26
- Large & up-to-date extension community25
- Powerful and fast22
- Portable20
- Best code editor17
- Best editor16
- Easy to get started with15
- Crossplatform14
- Open, cross-platform, fast, monthly updates14
- Built on Electron14
- Good for begginers14
- All Languages Support13
- Lots of extensions13
- Extensions for everything12
- Easy to use and learn11
- Useful for begginer11
- Ui design is great11
- Faster edit for slow computer11
- Totally customizable11
- Extensible11
- Git out of the box10
- "fast, stable & easy to use"10
- It has terminal and there are lots of shortcuts in it9
- Great community9
- Great language support9
- Works With Almost EveryThing You Need8
- Fast Startup8
- Powerful Debugger8
- SSH support8
- Features rich7
- Can compile and run .py files7
- Python extension is fast7
- Great document formater7
- She is not Rachel6
- He is not Michael6
- Awesome multi cursor support6
- Easy azure5
- Extension Echosystem5
- SFTP Workspace5
- VSCode.pro Course makes it easy to learn5
- Language server client5
- Has better support and more extentions for debugging4
- Very proffesional4
- Excellent as git difftool and mergetool3
- Emmet preinstalled3
- Supports lots of operating systems3
- Virtualenv integration3
- 'batteries included'3
- Has more than enough languages for any developer3
- Better autocompletes than Atom2
- Light2
- CMake support with autocomplete2
- VS Code Server: Browser version of VS Code2
- More tools to integrate with vs2
- Fast and ruby is built right in2
- Big extension marketplace1
- Microsoft1
- Customizable1
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Cons of PyCharm
- Slow startup8
- Not very flexible5
- Resource hog4
- Periodic slow menu response2
Cons of Visual Studio Code
- Slow startup43
- Resource hog at times26
- Poor refactoring20
- Poor UI Designer13
- Microsoft12
- Weak Ui design tools11
- Poor autocomplete10
- Poor in PHP7
- Huge cpu usage with few installed extension6
- Poor at Python5
- Super Slow5
- Poor intellisense. poor java4
- Microsoft sends telemetry data4
- Poor in Python3
- No Built in Browser Preview3
- Dilshad3
- No color Intergrator3
- No built in live Preview3
- Very basic for java development and buggy at times3
- Bad Plugin Architecture2
- It's MicroSoft1
- Electron1
- Terminal does not identify path vars sometimes1