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Spyder VS Portable Python

Compare Spyder VS Portable Python and see what are their differences

Spyder logo Spyder

The Scientific Python Development Environment

Portable Python logo Portable Python

Minimum bare bones portable python distribution with PyScripter as development environment.
  • Spyder Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-06
  • Portable Python Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-01

Spyder features and specs

  • Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
    Spyder is a feature-rich IDE specifically designed for scientific computing, providing tools that are essential for data analysis, visualization, and more.
  • Interactive Console
    It includes an interactive IPython console, allowing for real-time execution of code and immediate feedback, which is extremely valuable for data scientists and researchers.
  • Variable Explorer
    Spyder allows users to easily inspect and modify variables using its Variable Explorer, making it simple to work with large datasets and complex structures.
  • Integrated Debugger
    The IDE offers a robust debugging environment with breakpoints, variable inspection, and step-through execution, enhancing code reliability and performance.
  • Visualization Support
    Spyder supports a wide range of visualization libraries such as Matplotlib and Seaborn, enabling users to generate plots and charts seamlessly.
  • Customizable Interface
    The interface is highly customizable, allowing users to set up their workspace according to their preferences or specific project requirements.
  • Plugin System
    Spyder supports plugins, allowing for extended functionality and the ability to tailor the IDE to specific needs.
  • Multilingual Support
    While primarily focused on Python, Spyder also supports languages like R and Matlab through plugins, broadening its usability.

Possible disadvantages of Spyder

  • Performance Issues
    Spyder can become slow or unresponsive, especially when handling very large files or datasets, negatively impacting productivity.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    For beginners, the extensive list of features can be overwhelming, and it might take considerable time to become proficient with the IDE.
  • Limited Web Development Capabilities
    Spyder is not designed for web development and lacks the features and integrations that web developers might need, such as comprehensive HTML, CSS, and JavaScript support.
  • Resource Intensive
    The IDE can be resource-intensive, which might slow down older or less powerful machines, making it less accessible for some users.
  • Dependencies
    Spyder relies on multiple external packages and dependencies, which can sometimes lead to compatibility issues or complicated installations.
  • Limited Git Integration
    While Spyder has basic integration with version control systems like Git, it lacks the full feature set found in other IDEs such as PyCharm or Visual Studio Code.
  • Fewer Community Extensions
    Compared to other popular IDEs and text editors, Spyder has fewer community-developed extensions and plugins, potentially limiting its extendability.
  • Single Focus
    The IDE's strong focus on scientific computing means it might not be as versatile for general-purpose programming, limiting its appeal to different programming communities.

Portable Python features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Spyder videos

First steps with Spyder - Part 1: Getting Started

More videos:

  • Review - #Spyder Movie Review - Maheshbabu - A R Murugadoss
  • Review - Can-Am Spyder F3-S Review at fortnine.ca
  • Review - Spyder review by prashanth

Portable Python videos

No Portable Python videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Spyder and Portable Python)
Text Editors
77 77%
23% 23
IDE
74 74%
26% 26
Python IDE
73 73%
27% 27
Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Spyder and Portable Python

Spyder Reviews

Top 5 Python IDEs For Data Science
If you have the Anaconda distribution installed on your computer, you probably already know Spyder. It’s an open source cross-platform IDE for data science. If you have never worked with an IDE, Spyder could perfectly be your first approach. It integrates the essentials libraries for data science, such as NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib and IPython, besides that, it can be extended...

Portable Python Reviews

We have no reviews of Portable Python yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Portable Python might be a bit more popular than Spyder. We know about 2 links to it since March 2021 and only 2 links to Spyder. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Spyder mentions (2)

  • GitHub announced the 20 projects selected for their accelerator first cohort
    - https://github.com/spyder-ide/spyder: The scientific Python development environment - https://github.com/strawberry-graphql/strawberry: A GraphQL library for Python that leverages type annotations. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Python GUI Programming
    Spyder is open source and I was going through the source code. It is a lot to take in and before I go through the code I wanted to ask if anyone could point me in the direction of a Spyder code skeleton. Source: about 2 years ago

Portable Python mentions (2)

  • Can my work till if I run Linux from a USB?
    Not likely, unless they were LOOKING for that kind of thing, which is also unlikely. However, many companies lock the bios to stop you changing the preferred boot order of the PC. You could also consider using Python Portable, therefore would not be actually installing anything https://sourceforge.net/projects/portable-python/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Problem with rembg and portable python 3.8.9 x64
    Hello, i'm a compelte noob in python and have a problem with run rembg with portable python 3.8.9x64 (downloaded from https://sourceforge.net/projects/portable-python/). Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Spyder and Portable Python, you can also consider the following products

PyCharm - Python & Django IDE with intelligent code completion, on-the-fly error checking, quick-fixes, and much more...

WinPython - The easiest way to run Python, Spyder with SciPy and friends out of the box on any Windows PC...

IDLE - Default IDE which come installed with the Python programming language.

Thonny - Python IDE for beginners

Anaconda - Anaconda is the leading open data science platform powered by Python.

PyScripter - PyScripter is a free and open-source Python Integrated Development Environment (IDE) created with...