CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonc++compilationinterpreter
Robert
Robert

Reputation: 71

Why in Python the choice of IDE does not matter, while in C++ it does?

This summer, I am a teaching assistant for a professor in a Python course. Last Wednesday, I explained to the students that they absolutely must use the IDE of the course, i.e. PyCharm. Otherwise, if a student is doing practical work using another IDE (e.g. VS Code), it is possible that the interpreter of PyCharm is different from that of the other IDE. This is WRONG!

The teacher explained to me that this is not the case. Students can use the IDE of their choice. This will have no impact when interpreting the code.

I don't know where I made the mistake. During an algorithmic course in C ++ at the last session, the teacher explained that we could not use any other IDE than the one in the course. If we decided to use a different IDE than the one in the course, then it was possible to have compilation conflicts.

Why in Python the choice of IDE does not matter, while in C++ it does?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 207

Answers (2)

Tetra
Tetra

Reputation: 1

An IDE is just a tool, used to simplify code writing, source control, debugging...

Like other tools, it's doesn't matter which IDE you use, the most important is which tool your know use and what are your ability to deal with this advantage and this inconvenient.

You can code in C++ with just a compiler, like g++, clang++ or msvc and text editor like emacs, notepad++, or vim for example. Just like in python you can code just with a python interpreter and a text editor.

Upvotes: 0

Wes Hardaker
Wes Hardaker

Reputation: 22262

I think you're actually mixing up two important things. The editor that is used to create the code can technically be anything. There are a number of nice-to-haves with editors that help you write code, such as auto-indentation, variable name expansion, etc. But many editors (e.g. IDEs) also have built in compilation and execution environments. This means particular versions of python (pycharm allows you to run things under multiple runtime environments, eg) or support for particular compilers (eg, for c++ it might be gcc-c++-10.3.1 or something).

What will make a difference is that the editor must support the code semantics required for the class for it to "help" you (type hints in python only exist after a certain point in the languages, as does lamba functions in c++). But the reality is that you can write your code in notepad, and very basic tools. As long as you execute it in the environment that the teacher wants to grade things in to ensure everyone is using a standard execution framework to make his life easier, the editor shouldn't matter. But it is a lot easier for them to say "use this IDE, with this run time configuration" than explain all this to each student where some use vi and others emacs and others pycharm and others ...

Upvotes: 1

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