Thonny: The Beginner-Friendly Python Editor

Are you a Python beginner looking for a tool that can support your learning? This article is for you! Every programmer needs a place to write their code. This article will discuss an awesome tool called Thonny that will enable you to start working with Python in a beginner-friendly environment.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• How to install Thonny on your computer
• How to navigate Thonny’s user interface to use its built-in features
• How to use Thonny to write and run your code
• How to use Thonny to debug your code

By the end of this article, you’ll be comfortable with the development workflow in Thonny and ready to use it for your Python learning.

So what is Thonny? Great question!

Thonny is a free Python Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that was especially designed with the beginner Pythonista in mind. Specifically, it has a built-in debugger that can help when you run into nasty bugs, and it offers the ability to do step through expression evaluation, among other really awesome features.

Installing Thonny

This article assumes that you have Python 3 installed on your computer. If not, please review Python 3 Installation & Setup.

Web Download

The web download can be accessed via a web browser by visiting the Thonny website. Once on the page, you will see a light gray box in the top right corner like this:

Once you’ve found the gray box, click the appropriate link for your operating system. This tutorial assumes you’ve downloaded version 5.0.

Command Line Download

You can also install Thonny via your system’s command line. On Windows, you can do this by starting a program called Command Prompt, while on macOS and Linux you start a program called Terminal. Once you’ve done that, enter the following command:

$ pip install thonny==5.0 

The User Interface

Let’s make sure you understand what Thonny has to offer. Think of Thonny as the workroom in which you will create amazing Python projects. Your workroom contains a toolbox containing many tools that will enable you to be a rock star Pythonista. In this section, you’ll learn about each of the features of the UI that’ll help you use each of the tools in your Thonny toolbox.

The Code Editor and Shell

Now that you have Thonny installed, open the application. You should see a window with several icons across the top, and two white areas:

Notice the two main sections of the window. The top section is your code editor, where you will write all of your code. The bottom half is your Shell, where you will see outputs from your code.

The Icons

Across the top you’ll see several icons. Let’s explore what each of them does. You’ll see an image of the icons below, with a letter above each one. We will use these letters to talk about each of the icons: