For development in Python there are two leading choices: PyCharm or VS Code. I've been a VS Code user, but started exploring PyCharm because of some limitations in VS Code.
| Feature | PyCharm | VS Code |
| Basic Editing | Fine | Fine |
| Refactoring | Better | OK |
| Remote Editing | Not really. PyCharm assumes files are available locally. There's some automation for copying files between local and remote, but it's not really remote. | Outstanding. You can connect to SSH, Docker, WSL. VS Code transforms into a client-server setup, with your local app just a client. Allows seamless editing across all kinds of systems |
| Remote Debugging | OK. You can use pydevd_pycharm, but have to forward local port to remote host | Outstanding with debugpy |
| Startup Time | Long, but ready to go once up | Fast, but extensions take a while to load |
| Python | Don't know | Pylance and Python extensions combine to give a very good experience |
| Template Language | Better | Just OK |
| Dark Theme | The default Darcula is quite bad. Fortunately there is a VS Code dark theme clone | Good Dark theme |
Would you add something to this table?
Update Apr 7, 2021
PyCharm 2021.1 is out with somewhat better support for WSL2. This still appears to be a stop-gap and no true remote editing support.
I also added a row for dark themes