Results - VS Code vs PyCharm

Posted on Tue 02 February 2021 in Misc

I asked Reddit about text editors vs IDEs. In particular, I asked VS Code users why they preferred it over IDEs like PyCharm, and then I asked PyCharm users why they preferred it over text editors like VS Code. The results were very interesting.

VSCode users: Why do you prefer it over PyCharm?

PyCharm users: Why do you prefer it over VSCode or other editors?

Results: VS Code

Among VS Code users, the following reasons were listed most:

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Results: PyCharm

And among PyCharm users, the following reasons were most common:

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Conclusion

Looking at the above, I can conclude a few things:

  • Users who work with multiple languages frequently prefer VS Code, whereas users who work mainly with Python prefer PyCharm.

  • Users who don't want to spend much time on set up and configuration prefer PyCharm, because of it's many out-of-the-box features.

  • Users who like flexibility prefer VS Code because of its vast plugin ecosystem that lets them add virtually any needed functionality.

  • The price of PyCharm Professional seems to be a significant factor.

  • PyCharm users say that such deep language integration cannot be found in any text editor.

I myself am a PyCharm Pro user. The price is worth it to me, and my top reasons why I prefer it are:

  • Deep language integration: Even though Python support in VS Code is very good, PyCharm has even better integration. This ranges from smart autocomplete to stellar refactoring tools. To a limited degree, VS Code has these as well (with plugins), but PyCharm takes it to another level.

  • I like not having to look for and install multiple plugins before having the functionality I need. Plugins also make you dependent on 3rd parties, whereas in PyCharm everything is built-in and always works seamlessly.