Need help i just started the whole thing

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Need help i just started the whole thing - gabriel789 - Sep-06-2022

Hello my name is Gabriel. I have Just with the whole thing of python, and am very interested in the thing i don't even know how to pull up the terminal for python or even know if there is one can someone please help me and guide my thru the whole process to see if i have corrected installed python and pulling up the thing i cant seem to get it to work.

Thanks.

RE: Need help i just started the whole thing - kaega2 - Sep-06-2022

Hello Gabriel.
Welcome to Python :-)

So it sounds to me like you have already downloaded Python from python.org and installed it. If you have not you can download it here
Install is straight forward. Double click on the installer and click through the prompts. If it asks you if you want to add Python to your paths say yes

To test if Python is now working open either a Command Prompt or Powershell and type in python --version

If your install is working it should return something like

Output:
python 3.10.6

If you get an error instead you might not have your python path added to your system environments. To do this you'll need to know where your Python was installed. Mine was installed to C:\Users\<my_user_name>\AppData\Program\Python\Python310, but that might be something I chose, I'm not sure. Add your install path to the path variable in Environment Variables

At this point, you can just type Python into the Command Prompt and you'll be able to type in code to play around, but if you want to actually write and save a program you'll need to download an IDE next. Luckily Python has one designed just for it called PyCharm

Hope this helps

RE: Need help i just started the whole thing - deanhystad - Sep-06-2022

What operating system are you using?

RE: Need help i just started the whole thing - kaega2 - Sep-06-2022

(Sep-06-2022, 07:44 AM)deanhystad Wrote: What operating system are you using?

I'm using Windows.
If you're using Mac I'm sure the process isn't much different. Let me know and I'll try to help further.

RE: Need help i just started the whole thing - deanhystad - Sep-06-2022

What os is @gabriel789 using? The largest (or maybe just the noisiest) group of Python programmers are not using Windows or Mac OS.

RE: Need help i just started the whole thing - gabriel789 - Sep-07-2022

(Sep-06-2022, 07:44 AM)deanhystad Wrote: What operating system are you using?

Parrot os

RE: Need help i just started the whole thing - deanhystad - Sep-07-2022

Parrot OS is a version of Debian which is a Linux distribution. Linux has a "system Python" that is used by the OS. You should not use the system Python for learning how to program. Instead of using the system Python you should install a virtual environment. This is an approachable writeup that talks about the reasons for using a virtual environment and how to install one and use it.

https://towardsdatascience.com/virtual-environments-for-absolute-beginners-what-is-it-and-how-to-create-one-examples-a48da8982d4b

Once you have your virtual environment set up you can start programming Python. Python comes with a very basic IDE (Interactive Development Environment) named IDLE. IDLE is not a very good IDE, but I think it is quite adequate for starting to learn Python. This is a nice writeup on using IDLE.

https://realpython.com/python-idle/

RE: Need help i just started the whole thing - gabriel789 - Sep-07-2022

(Sep-07-2022, 08:14 PM)deanhystad Wrote: Parrot OS is a version of Debian which is a Linux distribution. Linux has a "system Python" that is used by the OS. You should not use the system Python for learning how to program. Instead of using the system Python you should install a virtual environment. This is an approachable writeup that talks about the reasons for using a virtual environment and how to install one and use it.

https://towardsdatascience.com/virtual-environments-for-absolute-beginners-what-is-it-and-how-to-create-one-examples-a48da8982d4b

Once you have your virtual environment set up you can start programming Python. Python comes with a very basic IDE (Interactive Development Environment) named IDLE. IDLE is not a very good IDE, but I think it is quite adequate for starting to learn Python. This is a nice writeup on using IDLE.

https://realpython.com/python-idle/

i found out that i had successfully downloaded python on to my computer while using parrot os. there is a thing they are talking about on this forum called pycharm can you tell me how to download it

RE: Need help i just started the whole thing - deanhystad - Sep-07-2022

I think Parrot OS comes with Python 3.9 (assuming you recently installed Parrot OS). That is new enough that there's really no reason to install a different Python (there is a Python 3.10 now). But you do not want to use the Python that came with Parrrot OS. Treat that Python like it is part of the operating system. Create a virtual environment for doing your own Python program. If you use PyCharm it almost forces you to create a virtual environment.

Go to www.jetbrains.com to download PyCharm community edition. It's free.

https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/#section=linux

RE: Need help i just started the whole thing - gabriel789 - Sep-11-2022

a virtual environment meaning creating a virtual box

(Sep-07-2022, 08:58 PM)deanhystad Wrote: Create a virtual environment for doing your own Python program.

when you say virtual environment you mean like virtualbox