PyCharm

In most cases Python source code is written in text files that have a .py extension. You can develop your applications with only a text editor and the terminal. This is a bit daunting for most people, since they are unfamiliar with using the terminal. It is for this reason that we encourage you to use an integrated development environment (IDE).

An IDE is a user-friendly environment within which you can write computer programs. It hides many of the intricacies involved, and allows you to get more done in less time. It also helps you to discover and fix errors quickly and easily.

PyCharm is an IDE developed by JetBrains. It is provided in Professional, Educational, and Community editions. The Community edition is free, but still rich in functionality.

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a lightweight, cross-platform editor from Microsoft that becomes a full-featured Python IDE through extensions. Install the Python extension (ms-python.python) to get code completion, linting/formatting, testing, debugging, Jupyter notebooks, and an integrated terminal. VS Code is free and open source, highly customizable, and widely used in the Python community. It is equally suitable for using ChemApp for Python and general Python development; choose the tool you prefer.