Visual Studio Community - Free Python Development Tools!

Article
02/17/2016

But isn't all Python free?

Yes! As it should be. But now you get the sweet Visual Studio features for Python...

FOR FREE!!!

Download Visual Studio Community here:

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691978

And we're going to dig into it! When? Right now!!!

Python Tools for Visual Studio

Completely free Python support within Visual Studio.

CPython, PyPy, IronPython and more
Detailed IntelliSense
Interactive debugging
Integrated with Visual Studio features
Free and open-source
Select it in Visual Studio custom install

Editing

An editor that knows your code

Let Visual Studio think about your code and tell you which types go where. Tooltips, completions and code snippets make you more productive.

Libraries

Find and install the libraries you need

Third-party libraries are the fastest way to solve your problems. Use our pip, PyPI and virtual environment support to manage your projects and dependencies.

Debugging

Interactively diagnose issues with your code on Windows and Linux

None of us write perfect code all the time, but when it goes wrong Visual Studio can help. Visually step through your code, view or modify state, and interact with your program regardless of the operating system.

Interactive

A familiar Python interactive REPL with the power of Visual Studio

Don’t wait until you’re finished to start seeing what your code does. The Interactive Window immediately executes your code, showing the output, errors, graphs and images. Integration with IPython makes it a powerful data manipulation platform.

Source Control

Git and TFS without a command line

Manage your Git/TFS projects, pending changes, and branches with ease using Team Explorer, or check out one of the many source control extensions available for Visual Studio.

Unit Tests

Validate your changes in the editor

Make sure your code is working correctly without leaving Visual Studio. View, edit, run, and debug unit test-style tests from the Test Window.

Open Source

Fork us on Github

Python Tools for Visual Studio is a completely free extension, developed and supported by Microsoft with contributions from the community. Visit our Github page to see or participate in PTVS development.