When it comes to creating powerful and effec tive hacking tools, Python is the language of

Installing an IDE

An integrated development environment (IDE) provides a set of tools for 

coding. Typically, it includes a code editor, with syntax highlighting and 

automatic linting, and a debugger. The purpose of the IDE is to make it eas-

ier to code and debug your programs. You don’t have to use one to program 

in Python; for small test programs, you might use any text editor (such as 

vim, nano, Notepad, or emacs). But for larger, more complex project, an 

IDE will be of enormous help to you, whether by indicating variables you 

have defined but not used, finding misspelled variable names, or locating 

missing package imports.

In a recent Python developer survey, the top two favorite IDEs were 

PyCharm (which has commercial and free versions available) and Visual 

Studio Code (free). Justin is a fan of WingIDE (commercial and free ver-

sions available), and Tim uses Visual Studio Code (VS Code). All three IDEs 

can be used on Windows, macOS, or Linux.

You can install PyCharm from https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/ 

or WingIDE from https://wingware.com/downloads/. You can install VS Code 

from the Kali command line:

tim@kali#: apt-get install code

Or, to get the latest version of VS Code, download it from https://code 

.visualstudio.com/download/ and install with 

apt-get

:

tim@kali#: apt-get install -f ./code_1.39.2-1571154070_amd64.deb

The release number, which is part of the filename, will likely be differ-

ent from the one shown here, so make sure the filename you use matches 

the one you downloaded.