Spyder 6 IDE Released
Posted by PhilipYip@reddit | Python | View on Reddit | 62 comments
Spyder 6 has been released. The Spyder IDE now has standalone installers for Windows, Linux and Mac. Alternatively it can be installed using a conda-forge Python environment:
ensbana@reddit
Is there a way to get the debugging buttons, e.g. "Run current line", "Step into function", back on the Toolbar?
juliusc@reddit
(Spyder maintainer here) Good point. Could you open an issue in our issue tracker about it? We'll take care of it afterwards.
GhazanfarJ@reddit
Oh no.. Run Selection is now Run Selection and Advance. Should I create an issue for this as all or am I missing something?
ensbana@reddit
Done! Thanks for the prompt reply!
franzperdido@reddit
Awesome! I've been using Spyder for many years now and I'm happy to see many improvements!
GhazanfarJ@reddit
Spyder is the only IDE I use, even for HTML/JS (don't try this at home).
Recent-Thanks9166@reddit
I thought I was the only one doing this. Do you use an LSP server for HTML/JS?
GhazanfarJ@reddit
No I never thought to. Are you using anything that makes the experience better?
Recent-Thanks9166@reddit
No. I am not =/ I would appreciate some documentation on the subject.
Spikerazorshards@reddit
That’s cool. Why do you prefer to use it over other IDEs?
_B10nicle@reddit
I used to use Spyder, now I use VS code.
Spyder is very useful for data science due to features like the variable explorer.
This is a window that lets one see the shape and value of any defined variables in the script. Very useful for debugging.
ArtisticFox8@reddit
vs code has that too
BigBeardedDude@reddit
The variable explorer in spyder is superior. I use spyder and vs code. It depends on the work I am doing which ide I will use. They’re both great at certain things.
ArtisticFox8@reddit
Superior at what?
BigBeardedDude@reddit
The two things I like about spyder are the variable explorer and cell execution of code. The cell execution in vs code is not quite as flexible. I like vs code for it being able to use any conda environment without being installed in that environment. Vs code is great for development for rust and py03.
MaxSmask@reddit
You can also install Spyder outside your Conda environments and then open Spyder in that environment. Simply install Spyder using the standalone installer. Then, open a terminal, activate your Conda environment, and launch Spyder by typing 'spyder' in the terminal and pressing Enter. Your Spyder session will then be in that environment. I do that all the time :)
BigBeardedDude@reddit
Thanks for the info. I learned something new.
_B10nicle@reddit
I haven't messed around with vs code enough to lay out my UI correctly, how do I make this appear?
ArtisticFox8@reddit
f5 to debug a Python script
Jayne-Hero_of_Canton@reddit
I have spent HOURS AND HOURS fiddling with VS and I just cannot for the life of me get a workflow that's comparable to Spyder... I do data science but I also do a lot dev and maintenance on my pipelines.
What is your set up in VS? I want to make it work because of the ssh and git is built in, but Spyder is my comfy place for everything else.
I should note, I'm limited to what extensions I can use at work. I can request new ones but it takes time for them to get approved and added.
_B10nicle@reddit
Honestly, I don't have a set up that's amazing yet as I haven't fiddled with it.
I mainly moved for the reasons you said, the ability to use a linux terminal straight from vs code (great for compiling c, c++, fortran etc.) And the wide array of support for pretty much any language.
There is probably extensions that introduce a plot window and a variable window.
I did change my method using matplotlib to start explicitly stating figures and using 'plt.show' which works great outside of Spyder.
Jayne-Hero_of_Canton@reddit
Yes the multi language, and terminal support are appealing too! I bet 95% of my issue is I started on Spyder instead of vs 😅
_B10nicle@reddit
I only ever used Spyder before VS, I still find it much more comfortable.
I do like the VS linting option to peek definitions of functions and classes in Python.
ml_w0lf@reddit
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/jupyter-support-py#_variables-explorer-and-data-viewer
franzperdido@reddit
Well, I'm kind of an open source maxi, so that already eliminates some other IDEs
Other than that, it's mainly how it integrates the interactive console with the debugger. I just cannot get to work some idiosyncratic workflows in other IDEs.
ml_is_love@reddit
This is my personal experience from using Spyder 6. Autocomplete isn't very good. For instance, if I type `from torch.nn.functional import ` and press Tab, I see no suggestions. However, in the IPython console, it is a different story. Super responsive. Is there something that I'm doing incorrectly, or is there a setting to enable/disable? Thank you.
juliusc@reddit
(Spyder maintainer here) You're not doing anything incorrectly and for now there's no setting to improve completions of libraries with binary bindings, like Pytorch. The problem is that the open source libraries for code completion (e.g. Jedi) don't actually import your code to get completions for it. Instead, they do static analysis, which doesn't work very well for libraries that are bindings to code in C/C++/Rust, etc.
However, we have several ideas on how to improve that. Please follow our X account for future announcements (in two or three months, I think).
Mean-Cut3800@reddit
I've updated on a standalone install and now Spyder does not load up at all... does anyone have any ideas what I can do to fix this before my class on Monday?
juliusc@reddit
(Spyder maintainer here) Please open an issue in our issue tracker about it and we'll take a look at it. This is not the right place to give you support about it.
Desperate_Cold6274@reddit
conda-forge and Spyder will conquer the World! :)
juliusc@reddit
Haha, that's the plan! Stay tuned for what will (probably) arrive in 6.1: graphical management of Conda envs with Conda-forge packages inside Spyder.
Desperate_Cold6274@reddit
When the delivery is planned? Will it have marrkers and updated Vim mode? :D
juliusc@reddit
Desperate_Cold6274@reddit
juliusc@reddit
Ohh, you meant bookmarks. I think we could have that for 6.2
Des_Tiny@reddit
Noob here. it it possible to install packages to the standalone now? or do i still need to set up miniconda or equivalent? for example. pip doesn't seem to be built in, so it does not seem out of the box to add packages.
PhilipYip@reddit (OP)
The standalone conda-forge environment should be left as is.
You can use another conda-forge environment created in Miniconda. This environment needs to have spyder-kernels installed in it.
If it's helpful I made a couple of fairly detailed YouTube videos covering installation and setup of a conda-forge environment using Miniconda in both Windows 11 24H2 and Ubuntu 24.04 in order to use seaborn. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1RkaknDn7v9YV2PQXCzCtPTI6cnfVVNt&si=SZaeYfdGLKnaA-tO
notParticularlyAnony@reddit
Cool! I assume this means it can find separate conda enviroments without having to install spyder in every environment? That was one reason I stopped using spyder. Also, it was sort of a pain to use with pyqt.
dukederek@reddit
I know it's far from automatic but you can already go to Tools>Preferences>Python interpreter, and select the path to the python exe in the env you want to use.
I agree though it would be great to have this auto detected and populated to a drop down.
travissius@reddit
Oh yah, you have to select the interpreter too, but that's pretty standard. Not sure how it would auto detect which one you want to use, but a top level dropdown would be nice yah.
notParticularlyAnony@reddit
Selection in a dropdown menu is pretty standard nowadays. To have to install something in a virtual environment just to use a gui is not great.
travissius@reddit
Yah, agreed...but the full GUI install isn't required just that spyder-kernels package
notParticularlyAnony@reddit
I am just surprised that is still required. I do like spyder it isn't that big a deal, it does make it a bit of a pain to save/share virtual environments, but isn't that bad really.
juliusc@reddit
(Spyder maintainer here) Spyder-kernels has all the infrastructure necessary to support the Variable Explorer and debugger. But we're considering how to automatically install it on virtual environments on behalf of users to greatly simplify the user experience.
juliusc@reddit
(Spyder maintainer here) It took us a long time but that feature is finally available in Spyder 6! Now you can go to the menu
Consoles > New console in environmentto start a console in any Pyenv/Conda env you want.dukederek@reddit
Just got into work and updated to 6.0. so nice
juliusc@reddit
Cool! Glad you liked it
PhilipYip@reddit (OP)
Spyder installed from the standalone installer (Linux) automatically detected all the Miniconda Python environments. All I needed to do was select the right one from the dropdown list.
travissius@reddit
I used to do that, too, but it isn't necessary (at least since 4). If you have one full spyder installation in a separate environment you just need to install
spyder-kernelsin whichever other environment you want to use, and that's a pretty small package.travissius@reddit
I've been waiting a long time for this, will definitely install and try this morning.
juliusc@reddit
(*Spyder maintainer here*) This is just the first step! 6.1 will come with the ability to explore and manage the remote filesystem (i.e. adding, copying and removing files from it). And 6.2 will have code completion for remote packages in the Editor.
travissius@reddit
That is so excellent to hear! I look forward to the next releases and appreciate your work on Spyder.
Strong-Mud199@reddit
Love Spyder when I am developing algos that deal with data. Fastest way to run a snippet and plot the results.
Thanks for all the hard work! :-)
MrDixioner@reddit
There is nothing better than PyCharm yet and there won't be for a long time. I tried this Spider, it's not even half as good as PyCharm, and it's generally extremely inconvenient and has too few settings.
juliusc@reddit
Spyder is tailored for data science, not general development. And there's no company behind it, just a small team of eight people working part time on it.
Desperate_Cold6274@reddit
Awesome! I LOVE Spyder!
juliusc@reddit
(Spyder maintainer here) Yes, using our installer and then switching to the env you want to work on is our recommended workflow now.
The good thing is that Spyder now automatically detects your envs and show them in
Consoles > New console in environment. That works if you installed Anaconda/Minicoda/Miniforge in a standard location though.IntrepidSoda@reddit
They still making it???
Sones_d@reddit
How is it better than jupyter?
notParticularlyAnony@reddit
how is a car better than a stove?
PhilipYip@reddit (OP)
JupyterLab and Spyder are different tools, I would not say one is better than the other but they are complementary. Jupyter focuses primarily on notebook files and Spyder focuses primarily on script files. The notebook file has some advantage in terms of supplementing code with markdown but most Python libraries are in the form of modules (script files).
One particular strength that Spyder has is in data exploration. It has a variable explorer which can be used to explorer collections such as lists, ndarrays and DataFrame instances. You can get an overview of Spyders features here https://www.spyder-ide.org/.
DPhantomBandit@reddit
I'll try this