This workshop on getting started with appengine is going to be taught using Python. So to be prepared for the workshop, you should have both Python and the Google Appengine SDK installed before arriving, as we will not be spending significant time during the workshop on these installations.
Note: There are some non-compatible differences between Python 2 and Python 3, and Google Appengine does not support using Python 3. Google Appengine uses sandboxed Python 2.7.
If you have a Mac or Linux machine, you can type which python at a terminal to a) verify that you have python (which comes natively installed in both Mac and Linux operating systems) and b) verify that it is version 2.something. If nothing happens, try
ls /usr/bin/python
ls /usr/local/python
ls /usr/local/bin/python
to make sure you don't have python under some name like python2.7 in one of these locations.
If you have a Windows machine, you probably won't have Python unless you have installed it. I might recommend setting up a Linux environment for developing in, by installing Virtualbox and running an Ubuntu virtual machine in it. The workshop presenters may be limited in helping with Windows-specific issues. However, it is possible to develop in python for appengine on Windows, so you can go that route as well, with the caveat that The Googlez might be your only resource if you run into issues.
If you find you do need to install Python 2, here are some instructions. You should select the appropriate link and follow instructions to install python and pip. Installing virtualenv or some other virtual environment package is not necessary, although I'd recommend it if you intend to become a python developer, as it helps keep each different project's environment separate and keeps them separate from your base installs.
Our nice friends at Google have made a handy-dandy page for downloading the Appengine SDK, and there are some grey buttons below the downloads which expand into installation instructions for different operating systems.
What they don't tell you is that you should actually run the Google Appengine Launcher that gets installed and make sure to click "OK" when it asks if you want to create "Command Symlinks." If you don't do this, it's just really annoying to run a local development server, or to upload your app to your cloud account. Speaking of which...
https://console.developers.google.com
If you're unfamiliar with Python, and you'd like to familiarize yourself with it before coming to the workshop: