Chapter 1: Getting Started with Python Page + 1 backlink 1.1 Setting Up Your Environment Before running our first program in Python, first we'll need to install the recent version of Python in our computer. Next, we'll need to install a text editor to work with our Python programs. Text editors such as Visual Studio Code can recognize Python code and highlight sections as we write, making it easier for us to understand out code structure. Python Versions As of writing, the current version of Python is 3.12, but every code found in this course should run using Python 3.9 or later. Running Snippets of Python Code We can run Python's interpreter using our operating system's terminal window. The interpreter lets us try Python code without having to save and run an entire program. To start, just open the terminal window and type the python command. In this course, code snippets on the terminal will be shown like this: >>> print('Hello Python! ') Hello Python! The three angle brackets >>> prompt, or the Python prompt, indicates that we should use the terminal window. After the prompt is where we type in and execute Python code by pressing ENTER. About VS Code Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a powerful text editor that we will use for creating our Python programs. It can be installed on all modern operating systems, and it supports most programming languages, including Python. 1.2 Python on Different Operating Systems Python is a cross-platform programming language, which means it runs on all the major operating systems. Any Python program we write should be able to run on any modern computer that has Python installed.Python on Windows Windows doesn't usually come with Python, so we'll need to install it and VS Code. Installing Python. To check if Python is installed in our system, we open command prompt or powershell. In the terminal window, enter python in lowercase. If we get the Python prompt >>> in response, Python is installed in our system. But, if we see an error message telling us that python is not a recognized command, or Microsoft Store opens, Python is not yet installed. If Python is not yet installed, or if we see a version earlier than Python 3.9, then we need to download the latest version installer for Python from the official site: https: //python.org. After downloading the, run the installer. Make sure to select the option Add Python to PATH, which will make it easier to configure our system correctly. Running Python in a Terminal Session. To start running Python code, open a new terminal window and enter python in lowercase. We should see a Python prompt >>>, which means Windows has found the version of Python we just installed :\> python Python 3.x.x (...) [MSC v.1932 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32 Type "help", "copyright", “credits” or "license" for more information >>> Enter the following line in our Python session: >>> print('Hello Python! ') Hello Python! >>> We should see the output Hello Python! Anytime we want to run a snippet of Python code, open a terminal window and start a Python session. To close the session, press CTRL-Z and then press ENTER, or enter the exit() command. Installing VS Code. We can download an installer for VS Code at https: //code.visualstudio.com. Click the Download for Windows button and run the installer. Python on Linux (Ubuntu) Linux systems are designed for programming, so Python is already installed on most Linux computers. Checking Your Version of Python. Open a terminal window and enter python3 in lowercase. If Python is installed, the command starts the Python interpreter. We should see output indicating which version of Python is installed and the Python prompt >>> where we can start entering Python code: $ python3 Python 3.10.4 (...) [GCC 11.2.6] on linuxType "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> This output indicates that Python 3.10.4 is currently the default version of Python installed on the computer. To close the session, press CTRL-D and then press ENTER, or enter the exit() command. The codes used in our course will need Python 3.9 or later, so make sure to install the latest version. Installing VS Code. On Ubuntu Linux, we can install VS Code from the Ubuntu Software Center. Open Ubuntu Software then search for vscode. Click the app called Visual Studio Code (sometimes called code ), and then click Install. Once it's installed, search the system for VS Code and launch the app. 1.3 Running a Hello World Program Now that we have the necessary software, we are almost ready to start programming in Python. Installing the Python Extension for VS Code Before running our first program, we need to install the Python extension for VS Code. This extension adds support for writing, editing, and running Python programs. To install this extension, press CTRL-SHIFT-X or click the Extensions menu on the left side of the screen. Enter python in the search box and click the Python extension. Click Install and install any additional tools that your system needs to complete the installation, Ce Running hello.py Before writing our first program, make a folder called python_projects on the desktop for our projects. It's best to use lowercase letters and underscores for spaces in file and folder names, because Python uses these naming conventions. To start, open VS Code and close the Get Started tab if it's still open. Make a new file by clicking File P New File or pressing CTRLN. Save the file as hello.py in thepython_projects folder. The extension .py tells VS Code that the file is written in Python, and tells it how to run the program and highlight the text in a helpful way. After saving our file, enter the following line in the editor then save the file: int Open the in-app terminal of VS Code by clicking View > Terminal or pressing CTRL- ~ . This will open a terminal at the bottom of the editor. In here, we navigate to the location of the file using commands. To run our program, we type in the command python hello. py We will be running most of our programs directly in VS Code. However, sometimes it's useful to run programs from an external terminal instead. For example, we might want to run an existing program without opening it for editing. We can do this on any system with Python installed if we know how to access the directory where the program is stored. We use the cd command, for change directory, to navigate through the filesystem in a command window. The command 1s,, for list, shows all the files that exist in the current directory. Ensuring that we have the Python program in the current directory, we can now run the program. For example:1.4 Troubleshooting Here are general solutions for any programming problem: * When a program contains a significant error, Python displays a traceback, which is an error report. Python looks through the file and tries to identify the problem. Check the traceback as it might give a clue as to what issue is preventing the program from running. For example: essen a um Caen sy PICeN soe O ON cme sae) eae ae ste nee aE) SyntaxError: unterminated string literal (detected at line 1) PS C:\Users\ADMIN\Desktop\python_projects> ff * Step away from the computer, take a short break, and then try again. Remember that syntax is very important in programming, so something as simple as mismatched quotation marks or mismatched parentheses can prevent a program from running properly.