before we begin the yearsvim accumulated number of extensionscolor themesand every feature full-fledged ide would dream of it has its own package manager and gives you total control over every aspect of code editing it is free and is the quickest out of the blocks of any editor have seen for all its prosvim is hard to learn--very hard use vim whenever want to write quick script or make small change and do not want to wait for some other editor/ide to start up set up vim for python by going hereand-python- -match-made-in-heavenemacs an amazing operating systemif only it had good text editor emacs is built on emacs lisp and is insanely customizable you can do anything with itfrom sending emails to having your coffee machine startwith simple shortcut key combination like vimit is mouse freebut it has an even steeper learning curve those in the know swear by itand with good reason you have all the code-completion and split-screen options that modern ide offers with the ability to adapt the system as and when you feel the need to you do not have to wait for some vendor to create package to handle some new language featureyou can easily do it yourself easily is used very loosely with emacs you can make your editor do things the way you feel they ought to be doneand large part of programming is being dissatisfied with the way things are currently done and taking it upon yourself to do it differently set up emacs for python development by reading thisblog/python/emacs-the-best-python-editors ublime text this is more of an honorable mention than real suggestion sublime used to be the best free (with nag screens every couple of savesoption available it has beautiful default color schemeis fairly quick to startand is extensible it comes python-readybut its time has probably passed if you are interested in looking at ityou can get it herecom/