{"slug": "thonny", "name": "Thonny", "category": "editors", "category_name": "Editors and IDEs", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 3, "warners": 0, "score": 2.476, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-12-15", "latest": "2026-02-03", "why": "a version of Thonny[1] designed for use with the Pico that is great for education", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "a version of Thonny[1] designed for use with the Pico that is great for education", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "thonny.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://thonny.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Thonny"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 749931536, "item_id": 46870721, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46870721", "by": "incomingpain", "date": "2026-02-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Thonny is the best beginner IDE.", "excerpt": "I've been coding since about 2009. If someone were to ask me how to learn to code today. I dont know what I would say. My gut is telling me to say go into farming or marketing. vs ALL-IN. Down the rabbit hole you go. >I often see people say that the solution is to just fully learn to code without AI, (i.e, go \"cold turkey\"), which may be the best, but I wonder if the optimal path is somewhere in between given that AI", "context": "", "use_case": "beginner IDE", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 740346592, "item_id": 46271662, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46271662", "by": "schappim", "date": "2025-12-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a version of Thonny[1] designed for use with the Pico that is great for education", "excerpt": "There is a version of Thonny[1] designed for use with the Pico that is great for education. Raspberry Pi have some good resources on getting started[2]. If your target audience is school kids, you really can't go past the micro:bit and Makecode[3]. 1. https://thonny.org 2. https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/getting-started-with-the-pico/2 3. https://makecode.microbit.org", "context": "", "use_case": "Teaching Python on Pico", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["beginner ide", "teaching python on pico"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46265362", "title": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46866165", "title": "item 46866165", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 749931536, "item_id": 46870721, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46870721", "by": "incomingpain", "date": "2026-02-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Thonny is the best beginner IDE.", "excerpt": "I've been coding since about 2009. If someone were to ask me how to learn to code today. I dont know what I would say. My gut is telling me to say go into farming or marketing. vs ALL-IN. Down the rabbit hole you go. >I often see people say that the solution is to just fully learn to code without AI, (i.e, go \"cold turkey\"), which may be the best, but I wonder if the optimal path is somewhere in between given that AI", "context": "", "use_case": "beginner IDE", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 740463760, "item_id": 46278985, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46278985", "by": "jaustin", "date": "2025-12-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "The Micro:bit Educational Foundation also make a web-based Python Editor at https://python.microbit.org which is designed to be a supportive introduction to text-based coding and physical computing with no installation, friendly error messages and device simulation", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}, {"id": 740346592, "item_id": 46271662, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46271662", "by": "schappim", "date": "2025-12-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a version of Thonny[1] designed for use with the Pico that is great for education", "excerpt": "There is a version of Thonny[1] designed for use with the Pico that is great for education. Raspberry Pi have some good resources on getting started[2]. If your target audience is school kids, you really can't go past the micro:bit and Makecode[3]. 1. https://thonny.org 2. https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/getting-started-with-the-pico/2 3. https://makecode.microbit.org", "context": "", "use_case": "Teaching Python on Pico", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adafruit: Arduino\u2019s Rules Are \u2018Incompatible With Open Source\u2019"}]}