We’ve mentioned earlier versions in past newsletters but now the Jetbrains blog has highlighted an excellent MicroPython plugin for the PyCharm Python IDE that reached 1.0 status this week!  Check out the blog post for all the details of the plugin.  Using the tool you can extend the PyCharm IDE (both the free community edition and commercial version) to includes support for syntax highlighting MicroPython code, uploading to some MicroPython boards (like the pyboard, ESP8266 and BBC micro:bit), and viewing the MicroPython REPL.  It should even be possible to use this plugin with CircuitPython boards like the Circuit Playground Express!  The syntax highlighting might not be enabled for CircuitPython’s libraries, but saving to the board’s drive and viewing the REPL should work just the same as with MicroPython boards!  Here’s more from the blog post:

Today we’ve released the MicroPython plugin 1.0 for PyCharm. This plugin lets you edit your MicroPython code and interact with your MicroPython-powered microcontrollers using PyCharm. It supports ESP8266, Pyboard, and BBC Micro:bit devices. The plugin is being developed as a team project by the PyCharm Community lead Andrey Vlasovskikh. The source code for the project can be found on GitHub.

MicroPython is a relatively new member of the Python interpreters family. It’s basically a Python 3.5 implementation designed for microcontrollers — small computing devices that are used everywhere from smart watches to cars. People usually program microcontrollers in C or an assembly language due to low performance and memory limits. Thanks to clever optimization techniques implemented in MicroPython you can now use (almost) standard Python for microcontrollers. For example, you can create your own Internet of Things device and program it in MicroPython.

The MicroPython plugin is compatible with both PyCharm Community and Professional editions. We’re going to make it available for IntelliJ IDEA soon as well.