Returning Dev (C#/VB.Net -> Management -> React/Node) Looking for Python IDE Recommendations

Welcome to Discourse!
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Hi everyone,

I wanted to introduce myself to the forum. I’m Leonardo. I worked as a C# and VB.Net developer for many years before stepping into management roles, which kept me away from hands-on coding for a while. About two years ago, I got back into active development, mainly building with React, Node.js, and Express.

Now, I’m looking to start programming in Python and want to figure out the best development setup.

I currently use Visual Studio Code as my daily driver for web dev. I’ve tried PyCharm in the past, but I didn’t really enjoy the experience—it felt a bit too heavy and rigid for my workflow.

For those who develop in Python:

  1. What IDE or text editor do you currently use for your Python projects?
  2. What are your pros and cons regarding your setup?
  3. If you use VS Code for Python, which extensions make it feel like a fully integrated Python IDE?

Looking forward to hearing about your setups and experiences!

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I use VS code and Helix.

My important python extensions are GitLens, Pylance, Python, Python Debugger, Ruff, and a custom extension for SQL highlighting in .execute(""" contexts.
I’ve set it up to auto-format on save, except ignoring unused imports at that point.

One main annoyance is that in mysetup the Ruff formatting in vs code and helix puts line breaks where they shouldn’t, and I have to run Ruff from the command line to fix it.

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I mostly just use vscode with Pylance. Pylance is fully featured enough for my needs, generally. Everything else I just run from the terminal (usually from within vscode, since that’s pretty convenient)