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PyCharm vs Sublime: Comparing the Popular Code Editors

It doesn’t take much to realize the importance of a good code editor. For those who work in software development, coding, web design, and the like, a good code editor is indispensable. It’s what helps us to produce such incredible things as social networks and video games (to name just two). It’s one of those things that we never pay much attention to until it stops working correctly.

What are code editors?

A code editor is a type of software that you use to make and edit your code. You can also think of it as a word processor for developers, or an application that helps you build your website. They assist with many tasks involved in programming and other kinds of computer programming, such as debugging and compiling software.

Overview of Pycharm

Pycharm is a product of JetBrains, an amazing software development company. They also make some other great coding environments, that are more geared towards native development and web design. PyCharm is their coding environment for Python development and it is absolutely fantastic.

What makes Pycharm the best:

1. It has an excellent autocomplete system that will help you write better code by suggesting completion as you type.

2. It’s got a streamlined design that is easy on the eyes and an immensely deep plugin system that enables you to customize your Pycharm experience very easily.

3. The many power-user features are useful for a diverse range of programming tasks, from coding in multiple languages to debugging code and searching for code snippets in the terminal.

4. It’s completely free and open-source, which means you can try it out without any worries and, in case you end up using it as your primary IDE, give back to the community by contributing to its development.

5. It allows you to code in almost any language of your choice, from Python to Java and everything in between.

6. It supports remote development (so you can check your code into a GitHub repository).

Overview of Sublime

Sublime is an open-source text editor developed by the Sublime Text team. It has lots of features and a really cool user interface that you almost can not describe with words. If you are looking for a great text editor, you have to install Sublime Text.

What makes Sublime the best:

1. It’s free

2. A single window wastes no time opening to your project, with all the files you need showing up in that window

3. Editing is made easy with its autocompletion tools and lack of complicated menus.

4. You can install plugins to add features like Git integration, fuzzy matching, and advanced code completion

5. It’s compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows

Working

To start with Pycharm or Sublime, you have to download them, register, and start using them as a native feature of your operating system. You don’t have to install anything to use them in most cases. The interesting part is that you need their official plugins (Pycharm and Sublime plugins) to get various features available in their apps.

Comparing Pycharm and Sublime

In this section, we are going to look at how Pycharm and Sublime compare to each other. Their differences can be divided into three groups:

Productivity and Quality of the Result

Pycharm and Sublime have features similar to each other, but they differ in their productivity. In languages like Python and Java, Pycharm has a more productive interface and more productivity features, while Sublime is more flexible but less productive.

Features

PyCharm has a lot of features that Sublime doesn’t have. PyCharm’s advanced editing capabilities provide you with a lot of options that were simply not possible in the previous version. It creates intelligent shortcuts for common tasks like completing code (using Ctrl+Enter), syntax highlighting (using Smart Select) and automatic conversions to HTML formats, etc.

User Interface and Integration compared

PyCharm User Interface (UI) is quite nice in that it follows the Mac OS X style guidelines; it is easy to use and looks great. The only problem with its UI is that it feels like a native app for Mac whereas Sublime Text’s UI doesn’t really have that feeling. It looks more like a hybrid between Windows, Mac, and Linux (for me).

Extensions

A great feature of PyCharm is its plugins. The app has all kinds of extensions, from testing ones to a plugin that lets you use the mouse for navigation and others for auto-completion and more. The problem with PyCharm is that it doesn’t have any plugin repository where you can download them (it only has a “plugins” directory where they come with the app). But, it still is a feature-rich environment.

When it comes to Sublime Text, it has a lot of popular plugins like Emmet which makes writing code quicker and simpler than ever before. It also has other great plugins like the HTML5 Bundler, Seti UI, Gist Integration, etc.

Disadvantages of PyCharm

The main disadvantage of PyCharm is that it is more of a development environment and less of an IDE. This means that it won’t give you any templates and, for the majority of people, this is not necessary. Because Pycharm doesn’t have a lot of templates, you can’t create your own from scratch, which could be limiting at times.

Disadvantages of Sublime

The main disadvantages of Sublime Text include the fact that it doesn’t allow you to create your own templates or detect code formatting, thus being limited. It also doesn’t have many plugins (although there are some great ones).

Final Verdict

PyCharm is a better choice if you work in a development environment where you mainly create codes. If you are just creating files to share with other people, Sublime Text is more suitable. Pycharm has been around for longer but it is not superior to Sublime and won’t help you develop your skills faster or better.

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