Pycharm is the most popular and full-fledged IDE for Python scripting language which is created by Czech company, JetBrains that focuses on creating an integrated development environment for different web development languages. This Python IDE includes impressive features like an advanced debugger, high-quality code completion, support for web programming and code inspection. Unlike other IDEs, it focuses on working with projects of Python scripting language. In this article, we list down some of the popular features of this developer tool that helps debug code effectively.

Features

The most popular IDE has some excellent features that help a developer to work comfortably to gain more insights as well as get quality code completions. Some of the features are discussed below.

Code Completion And Inspection: This IDE enables easy code completion irrespective of the packages.

Code Coverage: You can mark .py files as code coverage and run outside the Pycharm Editor.

Git Visualisation: Pycharm has a blue section where you can easily check your last as well as current commits.

Package Management: Ability to search and add new packages are easy here and you can easily track all the packages with proper visual representation.

Refactoring: This IDE has some shortcuts for easy refactoring process.

SQLAlchemy Debugger: You can see the SQL representation of the user expression for SQL language code by setting a breakpoint and pausing the debugger.

Steps For Installation

Steps to install Pycharm on the system are fairly simple. The installation process is similar to any other software packages. All one needs to do is download the package from here where you will find two categories, Professional and Community. If you are a learner then it’s better to hit the latter one as it can be downloaded without spending any penny. There is also one more category, that is the Pycharm Educational Edition which is a perfect tool for an enthusiast.

For Windows installation, run the PyCharm-*.exe file you’ve downloaded and follow the instruction wizard.

For MacOS installation, open the PyCharm-*.dmg package that you’ve downloaded, and drag PyCharm to the Applications folder.

For Linux (Ubuntu 16.04 or higher) installation, run the following command

sudo snap install <pycharm-professional,·pycharm-community, or·pycharm-educational> –classic

Then, run Pycharm-professional, Pycharm-community, or Pycharm-educational in the Terminal.

Steps For Running Your First Python Project

1| Initial: Before you start, make sure that you have installed your Pycharm package as well as Python in your system.  

2| Choosing Interpreter: This IDE allows coder to use more than just one Python interpreter. It supports the standard Python interpreters, PyPy, IronPython, Jython, etc.  

3| Create Virtual Environment: Using external libraries can lead to managing the versions and in order to do so, dependencies like Virtualenvs comes handy. It helps you keep the dependencies for your different projects separate.

4| Create Python Script: After the setup, on the welcome screen, hit create new project. It suggests project templates for the creation of the various types of applications (Django, Google AppEngine, etc.). Python best practice is to create a virtualenv for each project. To do that, expand the Project Interpreter: New Virtualenv Environment node and select a tool used to create a new virtual environment.

5| Create a New File: For creating a Python file you need to select the project root in the Project Tool Window and press Alt+Insert.

6| Editing Source Code: PyCharm analyses your code on-the-fly, the results are immediately shown in the inspection indicator on top of the right gutter.

7| Code with Smart Assistance: Use the coding capabilities to create error-free applications without wasting precious time. Code completion helps in a great time saving, regardless of the type of file. PyCharm keeps an eye on what you are currently doing and makes smart suggestions, called intention actions, to save more of your time.

8| Run Application: You can right-click the editor, and on the context menu choose to run the script Ctrl+Shift+F10 or there is a green play icon in the left gutter where the available commands are shown when you point the mouse over it.

Outlook

• Pycharm allows you to create a full-fledged package with classes, subclasses, tests, GUIs, configs, etc
• The debugger allows you to investigate the step-by-step code
• Version control is much easier
• Pycharm allows you to a better code profiling and completion
• Pycharm provides support for JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Angular JS and, many others for web development