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<div class="section" id="turning-sublime-text-into-a-lightweight-python-ide">

<span id="sublime-as-ide"></span><h1>Turning Sublime Text Into a Lightweight Python IDE<a class="headerlink" href="#turning-sublime-text-into-a-lightweight-python-ide" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>

<p>A solid text editor is a developer’s best friend. You use it constantly and it

becomes like a second pair of hands. The keyboard commands you use daily

become so ingrained in your muscle memory that you stop thinking about them

entirely.</p>

<p>With Sublime Text, it’s possible to turn your text editor into the functional

equivalent of a Python IDE. The best part is you don’t have to install an IDE

to do it.</p>

<p><a class="reference external" href="http://www.sublimetext.com/">http://www.sublimetext.com/</a></p>

<div class="section" id="requirements">

<h2>Requirements<a class="headerlink" href="#requirements" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>

<p>Here are <em>my</em> requirements for an ‘IDE’:</p>

<ul class="simple">

<li><p>It should provide excellent, configurable syntax colorization.</p></li>

<li><p>It should allow for robust tab completion.</p></li>

<li><p>It should perform automatic code linting to help avoid silly mistakes and conform to good style.</p></li>

<p>And some more advanced features that you may want later:</p>

<ul class="simple">

<li><p>It should offer the ability to jump to the definition of symbols in other

files.</p></li>

<li><p>It should be able to interact with a Python interpreter such that when

debugging, the editor will follow along with the debugger.</p></li>

<div class="section" id="which-version">

<h2>Which Version?<a class="headerlink" href="#which-version" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>

<p>Use version 3 – it is updated now and again, so make sure to get the latest.</p>

<p><em>Use Sublime Version 3</em></p>

<div class="section" id="basic-settings">

<h2>Basic Settings<a class="headerlink" href="#basic-settings" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>

<p>All configuration in Sublime Text is done via <a class="reference external" href="http://www.json.org">JSON</a>. It’s simple to learn. Go and read that link then return here.</p>

<div class="admonition note">

<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>

<p>JSON is very similar to Python dict and list literals. Though it has its root in Javascript, it is also used in a wide variety of applications, and is well supported by Python. But a key difference is that it does not allow trailing commas after items in lists – so be careful.</p>

<p>There are a number of <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sublimetext.com/docs/3/settings.html">different levels of configuration</a> in Sublime Text. You will most often work on settings at the user level.</p>

<p>Open <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Preferences</span></code> -&gt; <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Settings</span></code></p>

<p>On a Mac, you can find it under:</p>

<p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Sublime</span> <span class="pre">Text</span></code> -&gt; <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Preferences</span></code> -&gt; <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Settings</span></code></p>

<p>Sublime will open up a split window – “default” and “user” – you can look through the default ones to see all the setting you might want to override, and then copy things from default by putting them in the user file.</p>

<p>The preferences file is simply a JSON text file you edit like any other text file.</p>

<p>Here’s a reasonable set of preliminary settings (theme, color scheme and font are quite personal, find ones that suit you.):</p>

<div class="highlight-javascript notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">{</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;auto_indent&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="kc">true</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;color_scheme&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="s2">&quot;Packages/User/Monokai (Flake8Lint).tmTheme&quot;</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;draw_white_space&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="s2">&quot;all&quot;</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;font_face&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="s2">&quot;inconsolata&quot;</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;font_size&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="mi">23</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;indent_to_bracket&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="kc">true</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;rulers&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span>

<span class="p">[</span>

<span class="mi">79</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="mi">95</span>

<span class="p">],</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;theme&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="s2">&quot;Adaptive.sublime-theme&quot;</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;smart_indent&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="kc">true</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;tab_size&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;translate_tabs_to_spaces&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="kc">true</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;use_tab_stops&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="kc">true</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;trailing_spaces_modified_lines_only&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="kc">true</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;trim_automatic_white_space&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="kc">true</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;trim_trailing_white_space_on_save&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="kc">true</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;word_wrap&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="kc">false</span><span class="p">,</span>

<span class="s2">&quot;wrap_width&quot;</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="mi">95</span>

<span class="p">}</span>

<p><strong>NOTE:</strong> Especially important is the setting <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">translate_tabs_to_spaces</span></code>, which ensures that any time you hit a tab key, the single &lt;tab&gt; character is replaced by four &lt;space&gt; characters. In Python this is <strong>vital</strong>!</p>

<p>If you do nothing else, add <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">translate_tabs_to_spaces</span></code> to your config!</p>

<div class="section" id="extending-the-editor">

<h2>Extending the Editor<a class="headerlink" href="#extending-the-editor" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>

<p>Most of the requirements above go beyond basic editor functionality. So we’ll use Plugins.</p>

<p>Sublime Text comes with a great system for <a class="reference external" href="https://sublime.wbond.net">Package Control</a>.

It handles installing and uninstalling plugins, and even updates installed plugins for you.

You can also manually install plugins that haven’t made it to the big-time yet, including <a class="reference external" href="http://docs.sublimetext.info/en/latest/extensibility/plugins.html">ones you write yourself</a>.

Happily, the plugin system is based on Python!</p>

<p>To install a plugin using Package Control, open the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">command</span> <span class="pre">palette</span></code> with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">shift-super-P</span></code> (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctrl-shift-P</span></code> on Windows/Linux).

The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">super</span></code> key is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">command</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">⌘</span></code> on OS X.

When the palette opens, typing <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">install</span></code> will bring up the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Package</span> <span class="pre">Control:</span> <span class="pre">Install</span> <span class="pre">Package</span></code> command.

Hit <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">enter</span></code> to select it.</p>

<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="../../_images/pc_menu.png"><img alt="The package control command in the command palette." class="align-center" src="../../_images/pc_menu.png" style="width: 600px;" /></a>

<p>After you select the command, Sublime Text fetches an updated list of packages from the network. It might take a second or two for the list to appear. When it does, start to type the name of the package you want. Sublime Text filters the list and shows you what you want to see. To install a plugin, select it with the mouse, or use arrow keys to navigate the list and hit <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">enter</span></code> when your plugin is highlighted.</p>

<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="../../_images/plugin_list.png"><img alt="../../_images/plugin_list.png" class="align-center" src="../../_images/plugin_list.png" style="width: 600px;" /></a>

<div class="section" id="useful-plugins">

<h2>Useful Plugins<a class="headerlink" href="#useful-plugins" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>

<p>Here are the plugins I’ve installed to achieve the requirements above.</p>

<div class="section" id="anaconda">

<h3>Anaconda<a class="headerlink" href="#anaconda" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>

<p>There are a bunch of Python-related plugins available. However, Anaconda is a nice package that provides most of the features you want, so plan on using just that one.</p>

<p>Not to be confused with the scientific Python distribution – the Anaconda sublime plugin is a full featured package to turn Sublime into a pretty full IDE:</p>

<p><a class="reference external" href="http://damnwidget.github.io/anaconda/">http://damnwidget.github.io/anaconda/</a></p>

<p>There are nifty instructions on that page.</p>

<p>By default, Anaconda uses the python interpreter that is in your <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PATH</span></code> environment variable. So, the most important configuration option is the python_interpreter option that allows you to use a different Python interpreter, for example, one that resides in a virtual environment, or python3 vs python2.</p>

<p>If you get the right Python when you type “python” at a raw command line, then you are OK. But if not you may need to re-configure it.</p>

<p>{“python_interpreter”: “~/.virtualenvs/myproject/bin/python”}</p>

<div><p>Note: for detailed information about how to properly configure Anaconda to get the maximum of it, follow <a class="reference external" href="http://damnwidget.github.io/anaconda/anaconda_settings/">“Configure Anaconda the Right Way”</a>.</p>

<div class="section" id="a-few-settings-you-ll-want-to-change">

<h3>A few settings you’ll want to change<a class="headerlink" href="#a-few-settings-you-ll-want-to-change" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>

<p>There are a few setting you may want to change:</p>

<li><p>max line length for the linter: default is 72, which is pretty short these day. I use 95:</p>

<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="s2">&quot;pep8_max_line_length&quot;</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mi">95</span><span class="p">,</span>

<div class="section" id="white-space-management">

<h3>White Space Management<a class="headerlink" href="#white-space-management" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>

<p>One of the issues highlighted by code linters is trailing spaces. Sublime Text provides a setting that allows you to remove them every time you save a file:</p>

<div class="highlight-json notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">{</span>

<span class="nt">&quot;trim_trailing_whitespace_on_save&quot;</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="kc">true</span>

<span class="p">}</span>

<p>This is a useful setting, but be careful if you are working with existing code: removing trailing whitespace by default causes a <em>ton</em> of noise in git commits.</p>

<p>But if you use it from the start with your code, it will keep it clean from the beginning.</p>

<p>It is suggested in the above settings.</p>

<div class="section" id="debugging-support">

<h3>Debugging Support<a class="headerlink" href="#debugging-support" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>

<p>You’ll probably want to wait on this until you start using a debugger, but it’s a nifty feature when you get there.</p>

<p>The final requirement for a reasonable IDE experience is to be able to follow a debugging session in the file where the code exists.</p>

<p>This: <a class="reference external" href="https://packagecontrol.io/packages/Python%20Debugger">https://packagecontrol.io/packages/Python%20Debugger</a></p>

<p>Looks promising as a debugger plugin for sublime.</p>

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