pgzero VS mu

Ah, ok. It looks like pgzero does some magic Python stuff and defines Actor and screen as extra builtins. This is not how libraries typically expose stuff (you'd usually have to write from package import foo, or import package and use it as package.foo). Generally, this kind of creating extra global objects is not gonna be anything VS Code can pick up on. There are a few discussions on pgzero's github, e.g. https://github.com/lordmauve/pgzero/issues/146, https://github.com/lordmauve/pgzero/issues/6, where they suggest some things you can try, but otherwise, I don't think you'll be able to get it working.

i was wondering if someone could help me figure out how to install this (https://codewith.mu/) python editor on the steam deck. Or if you have any other suggestions for better editors.

You literally plug the microcontroller into your USB on your PC and it shows up as a teeny-tiny USB flash drive, with "main.py" as a file. Edit the file with any text editor (but I recommend using Mu as it has a built-in serial console to the Python engine, auto-complete, and syntax highlighting) and once you save the file, the microcontroller detects the change and reboots, running the new code.

I recommend the Mu code editor because it's simple but has better UI than IDLE. But if they aren't going to be intimidated by its complexity, VS Code is good too. It sounds silly, but having a cool hacker-y looking IDE with colorful syntax highlighting does motivate people to code.

Great for my kids.

Another option would be Mu: https://codewith.mu/

I'd recommend using Mu as your editor since it's dead-simple: https://codewith.mu/

I'm reading Automate the Boring Stuff with Python and he has you use and install Mu which is meant for beginners. Last time I attempted this book I was using VIM in the Linux terminal because I was trying to learn Linux at the same time (Mu kept crashing anyway). This time I'm using Mu like the book wants (although sometimes he says "type this in IDLE" which is confusing) and it is a lot easier learning Python this way: https://codewith.mu/

I've found for beginner coders using codewithmu helps, because it has Pygame built in and is an easy install on Mac. https://codewith.mu/