Programming in geoinformatics – Python installation on Windows

README.md

Python installation for Windows

• Download and launch setup file of the most recent version of Python 2, currently Python 2.7.13. I recommend installing 32-bit version just in case. Turn on Add python.exe to Path during installation, so you don't have to do it manually later.

• Check installation

  • Launch command line (shortcut Win+R, type cmd, Enter) or launch Command line program.

  • Type python into command line and launch. If the output is similar to following, installation was successful (you can also check the version used, 2.7.13 in this example)

    Microsoft Windows [Verze 6.1.7601]
    Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. Všechna práva vyhrazena.
    C:\Users\Username>python
    Python 2.7.13 (v2.7.13:a06454b1afa1, Dec 17 2016, 20:42:59) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (
    Intel)] on win32
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> _
    

  • If the Python console is not launched, you have to edit Path environment variable to also contain Python installation directory (use Google or we'll do it in the next seminar).

Pip installation

Pip is useful for installing external libraries for Python easily.

We can do it easily using Python. Download get-pip.py script and either launch it by double-clicking on it or using command line – again Win+R, cmd, cd to directory where we downloaded the script (e.g. cd C:\Users\Username\Downloads – directories are separated by backslash, not a regular slash) and launch with python get-pip.py. Check installation by typing pip into command line (cmd) – help page should be displayed. We'll deal with any problems in the seminar.

Text editor installation

An IDE (Integrated development environment) or a text editor is useful for programming. Use anything you want, but a good choice for beginners is PyZo (do only Step 1 of the Quickstart section). Use text editor and command line to launch scripts otherwise. I'd reccomend two text editors, Sublime Text or Atom. Scripts can also be written using Notepad, but I advise against that.