PyCharm’s project files

Most IDEs have some sort of project file designed to contain project-level settings. If you’ve ever used any of Microsoft’s IDEs, you might remember folders such as .vscode for Visual Studio Code and .vs in a Visual Studio project. Java IDEs such as NetBeans and Eclipse also use a set of files to contain their project settings. PyCharm too has a set of files stored in a folder within each project, called .idea. This might seem like a strange name until you remember that JetBrains began with only one IDE project, IntelliJ IDEA. IntelliJ IDEA garnered a reputation for being the best IDE for Java development, bar none. It is so good that Google contracted with JetBrains to create Android Studio; a natural fit given Android applications are written entirely in Java. All the IDEs from JetBrains have the same lineage. They are all descendants of IntelliJ IDEA, and that’s why the project folder is called .idea. Remember—Windows users...