Should I VSCode or Pycharm
VSCode vs Pycharm for Python. Let’s get ready to rumble.
Python as a programming language needs no introduction. We love it in industry and academia alike and it often tops the most wanted programming language charts. The question now arises, if I’m working hardcore in Python, which IDE do I go with ? And the simple answer is, that there’s no simple answer.
Well, to better understand this, we can divide this question, based on what I wanted from my IDE and say whoever wins the most points, wins it all. And bear in mind, this is what I personally as a developer want from my IDE, but I hope y’all shall concur.
1. Cost
Ah the money question, well here there’s not much of a contest. Visual Studio Code is completely free and Pycharm, although does have the community edition, does have a lot of gem of a features hidden behind the paywall (like remote debugging support, advanced Django support and support for JavaScript and CSS) that make PyCharm attractive for some users. On top of that, PyCharm Professional costs a not so cheap $200 a year.
On the other hand, VS Code is FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software). This is a no-brainer. You can’t really beat a price of $0.
Winner: Have to give this one to VS Code
2. Performance
Next Thing, Performance. Its something we all deeply care about whether we want to or not. Admit it, don’t you get just a little bit angry when click on chrome icon just lights up and nothing happens. Then after a few seconds, its actually pops up ?
If not, Great ! But for us remaining mortals, performance is really something we don’t want to sacrifice on.
So, where do our competitors stand ?
Well, Even when running idle, PyCharm consumes around 1 GB of memory on my machine, while VS Code remains under 300 megabytes in almost all cases. VS code consumes significant memory only when I open multiple projects with dozens of files.
In the performance criteria, VS Code beats PyCharm no questions asked.
But thats no because its better in someway, it actually because VS Code doesn’t try to be a full IDE and keeps it simple as a text-editor, the memory footprint, startup-time, and overall responsiveness of VS Code is much better than PyCharm whereas PyCharm always enters the room guns blazing.
Winner: As long as you have good Desktop/Laptop go PyCharm. But for this comparison thing, yeah VS Code wins
3. Helpfulness ( Features )
Alright, we’ll be clear. The only reason I am using an IDE and not the terminal or notepad is because its way way helpful. And there are some features we are so habitual to using that it becomes second nature to us that we always expect it.
Well, here’s how our players stand on the features I expected.
- Intelligent code completion : Both have it ( Prefer Pycharm )
- Full text search, including support regexes : Both have it ( Prefer Pycharm )
- Syntax highlighting and bracket matching : Both have it ( Equal )
- Git integration : Both have it ( Prefer VSCode )
- Code formatting and autopep8 support : Both have it ( Equal )
- Code linting using pylint : Both have it ( Equal )
- Debugging and code inspection tools : Both have it ( Pycharm Professional them all )
- User defined code snippets : Both have it ( Equal )
- Themes : Both have it ( Prefer VSCode )
Now after using both the IDEs for doing a ton of work, personally I did find out somethings that I loved from both the sides.
Pycharm :
PyCharm contains advanced text search and replace features that aren’t available in VS Code. One of these features is called “Search Everywhere”, which searches filenames as well as content in the entire project.
VSCode struggles at times with autocomplete support whereas when using PyCharm, it works nearly perfectly in every instance. My personal experience of VSCode was that the autocomplete can at times work great and other times not. It’s not just me though, people on reddit complain about the same thing: it’s oddly temperamental
Further, VSCode struggles to load extensions at times and I thought it may have been me, however, this seems to be a bit of a recurring theme as its been reported multiple times: here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and the issue is still present.
Vscode :
Ever have the scenario when you go git rebase upstream/branch and you are greeted by a sea of conflicts ? No ? Well, for arguments sake lets say you have. The pick and choose feature in VSCode is great for that quick pick the changes I want and remove the rest on the click of a button.
PyCharm has a lot of features that most people don’t need regularly (advanced code refactoring tools), and it is slightly confusing figuring out where to find the configuration options if you haven’t used it before. Configuring VS Code is much easier to wrap your head around. All you have to do is type Ctrl+Shift+P and a command palette appears where you can search for anything you’d like to do, and it will appear in the results.
Winner: VS Code and PyCharm both do what I need to be done with certain pros and cons. So, Giving them both a point.
4. Community
Both PyCharm and VSCode allow the community to create plugins to enhance their user experience. Both have full-blown IDE’s and really do tick all the boxes in terms of what you need and want, although, neither are entirely perfect. Both have a strong community behind them and despite VSCode not being around for as long as PyCharm, both do have fairly mature systems in terms of technical capability.
I think it ultimately comes down to you. Do you want to pay for PyCharm professional and have a more specialised experience, or, would you rather have the free VSCode experience with a little bit less specialism, but, potentially more extensibility?
So what does my gut say?
Stick to PyCharm if you only code in Python. If not, VSCode.
The decision is ultimately up to you but the IDE you use can really alter your perception and experience in a coding language. I would expect advanced programmers to be using a variety of IDE’s depending on the project in hand (not to mention to the number of languages coders jump between) so being flexible with your tools definitely makes life easier.
Winner : Both get a point. The communities are awesome.
5. Support
Visual Studio Code (or VSCode for short) is Microsofts open-source IDE. Its initial release was in 2015 and since then (according to Stack Overflow) it’s become the most in-demand IDE.
PyCharm is a part of the JetBrains family of IDEs, and all of those IDEs provide extensibility through plugins. Currently, PyCharm has almost 3000 extensions listed on the JetBrains website.
VS Code is designed to be a bare-bones editor which can be transformed into a complete IDE using extensions. The entire support for Python (including syntax highlighting, debugging and code completion) is just a single extension. VS Code has an extension for almost everything, and it is very simple for developers to build their own. All these extensions can be found in the VS Code Marketplace. That means VS Code ends up being far more extensible than PyCharm.
Winner : VSCode all the way
6. Conclusion
Finally, Points wise yes, its VSCode winning without doubt.
But my personal conclusion is this.
If your the type of person, that does enjoy the process of setting up an IDE, add extensions what you want and more importantly know what you want, go with VSCode. Its free, and tons of extensions and is light on the footprint.
On the other hand, if you want to just work on python, have a decent machine, dont want to customize a lot and just simply start your work you can easily get done, whatever you want to get done in Pycharm.
Me personally, I stick to VSCode + Jupyter for my personal projects and PyCharm for my main ones at the office.
Thanks a ton for taking out the time to read this.
Have a great day,
Cheers !
