3.12 Which Option Should I Use?

With all these options, the question naturally arises: Which one is best for me? In general, use the IDLE interface for development, if you are just getting started with Python. It provides a user-friendly GUI environment, and can hide some of the underlying configuration details. It also comes with a platform-neutral text editor for coding your scripts, and is a standard and free part of the Python system.

If instead, you are an experienced programmer, you might be more comfortable with simply the text editor of your choice in one window, and another window for launching the programs you edit, by system command lines or icon clicks. Because development environments are a very subjective choice, we can't offer much more in the way of universal guidelines; in general, the environment you like to use is usually the best to use.