Emacs as an IDE for Python Development

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It’s basically this old-school text editor that’s been around since the 70s (yep, before your time). But don’t let its age fool you it’s still relevant today and can be transformed into an awesome Python IDE with some extensions.
So how does Emacs work as a Python IDE? Well, first you need to install Elpy or Python-mode, which are two popular packages that add all sorts of cool features like code completion, syntax checking, and an interactive Python shell. Once you have those installed, you can start coding in Emacs just like any other text editor but with the added benefit of having a fully-featured IDE at your fingertips!
For example, let’s say you want to write some code that calculates the factorial of a number using recursion. Here’s what it might look like in Emacs:

# This function calculates the factorial of a number using recursion
def factorial(n): # defining the function and setting the parameter n
    if n == 0: # checking if n is equal to 0
        return 1 # if n is 0, return 1 (base case for recursion)
    else:
        return n * factorial(n-1) # if n is not 0, return n multiplied by the factorial of n-1 (recursive call)

# Example:
# factorial(5) will return 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 120

Now, let’s say you want to test this function with some input values. You can do that by running the code in an interactive Python shell within Emacs using Elpy or Python-mode. Here’s how it works:
1. Press Ctrl + x Ctrl + e (or M-x for short) to open a new buffer and start writing your code.
2. Write your function as shown above, making sure to save the file with a .py extension so that Elpy or Python-mode can recognize it as a Python script.
3. Press Ctrl + x Ctrl + l (or M-x for short) to open an interactive Python shell within Emacs. This will allow you to test your function using input values like this:

# This script calculates the factorial of a given number

# Define the factorial function
def factorial(n):
    # Initialize the result variable to 1
    result = 1
    # Loop through numbers from 1 to n
    for i in range(1, n+1):
        # Multiply the result by the current number
        result *= i
    # Return the final result
    return result

# Call the factorial function with input value of 5
factorial(5)

# Output: 120

4. To exit the interactive Python shell, press Ctrl + d (or M-d for short).
That’s it! You now have a fully-featured Python IDE in Emacs that can handle everything from code completion to syntax checking and an interactive Python shell. And best of all, you don’t need to leave your favorite text editor to do it just press some keys and voila!

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