Customizing emacs like pycharm IDE

Question

I am newbie to Emacs. I mostly work in python (specifically twisted) & trying to configure it more like Pycharm IDE. I installed package elpy . But still it doesn't work well in case of auto completion. Also it shows all errors in red color either they are errors or warnings. I tweaked pyflakes to show only specific errors ( instead of showing all errors mentioned in PEP8 specifications). But I am trying to make it more like Pycharm.

Has anybody greater luck with this ? Why pycharm is so good in case of autocompletion and finding definitions/sources of functions/classes ? Also Can we configure virtualenv in emacs ?

Any suggestions/resources/ideas will be welcome.

Answer 1

I am a newbie myself, but I did have more luck with spacemacs , thanks to the community behind it!. And hopefully this is can be useful for those never used emacs before as well. I had hard time installing so I will make the guide very detail. I'll be updating this if I find any more package to improve the experience Read more at github spacemacs (Google spacemacs refactor python code )

Final Result Should Have (Check the image at the end):

• Auto-complete ( CMi )
• Line number ( Mx linum-mode )
• Python Virtual Environment ( Mx pyvenv-workon )
• Syntax-checking ( Mx flycheck-mode )
  • Warning is orange
  • Error is red
• Show Doc of that function/class ( M-? )

Table of Content :

• Note
• Optional Stuff
• Prerequisites for Installing Spacemacs
• Installation of Spacemacs
• Prerequisites for Installing Python Layer
  • Skip to here to if you already installed spacemacs
• Installation of Python Layer
• Testing Python Layer
• Final Note
• Summary

Note :

• commandline (Windows) and Terminal (Linux) as Terminal
• Mx is to hold alt-key and x-key together

Optional Stuff :

• Some knowledge on Vim style key-binding*
• Patience reading through a lot text
• Courage to start from scratch

Prerequisites for Installing Spacemacs :

1. Install Emacs (Version >= 24.5)
2. Install Git

Installation of Spacemacs :

1. Start Emacs and close it.
2. Go rename (if any) .emacs.d folder to .emacs.d.bak .
   • Windows: Should be in %appdata%
   • Linux: Should be in Home directory (Might be hidden)
3. Open Spacemacs website, click on install Copy the link provided.
4. Open up terminal , paste the link, press enter
5. Wait for the operation to finish
6. Open up emacs

By now you should see: Something like this

7. Follow the Dotfile-wizard-installer
   • Note: that I use vim **, standard (Spacemacs), heavy and full-feature (Helm)
8. Get a cup of tea of your choice while spacemacs install some packages
   • Note: If any package fails to install, restart emacs and it should attempt to reinstall the failed packages.
9. Close emacs

Prerequisites for Installing Python Layer :

1. Python Virtual Environment

Installation of Python Layer :

1. Open emacs
2. Mx find-file and open a python file
3. There will be a prompt to install python layer, accept the offer
4. Get some cookie while it get packages for python layer
5. Close emacs
6. Open dotspacemacs file ( .spacemacs ) in any text editor
7. Go to dotspacemacs-configuration-layers and:
   • Uncomment auto-completion , spell-checking and syntax-checking
   • Uncomment mean remove ;; in front
8. Go to dotspacemacs-additional-packages and add the following between the brackets
   • flycheck-pyflakes
   • Pyflakes is for error checking
9. In terminal , run pip install pyflakes , in virtual environment of your choice
10. Open emacs and with for it to install some stuff

Testing Python Layer :

1. Mx pyvenv-workon and choose your prefered environment
2. Mx find-file and open a python file and make some errors
3. Mx linum-mode to show line number
4. Make a function
   • def asdf4ninja(): pass
5. Type partial function in like asdf4

6. It should autocomplete for you, otherwise auto-complete with anaconda CMi

   • CMi is hold Ctrl , Alt and character i

7. In the same file, import hashlib

8. Type in the next line hashlib. (Note the dot . )

You should see: Something like this

Note: The error checking and bottom right py3.4 is the virtual environment I am using

Final Note :

• M-? to show documentation
• You will need to manually
  • Mx pyvenv-workon to choose environment on start
  • Mx linum-mode to enable lines
• Because I don't know how to make layers to automatically enable them

Summary :

• CMi to auto-complete
• M-? to show documentation
• place the cursor in the open bracket () to see the function signature
• Read more at spacemacs
• Enjoy!

Answer 2

You can add one more thing in your list

Automatic save - (add-hook 'focus-out-hook 'save-buffer)

In case, your emacs slows down try (global-hl-line-mode -1) in dotspacemacs/user-config