Resources for setting up Python

py-setup.md

Is Python installed? Which version?

Run python from a shell to find out.

If you're using Linux, you might be able to install everything you need directly from your distribution's package repository. The versions you want might not be available, though.

Install Python

• https://www.python.org/download/
• The above page probably has links to specific info about Mac, Windows, etc. (Last I checked, middle of page under "Information about specific ports, and developer info")

Install some essential tools

You will be able to easily install new python packages with pip and you will be able to make virtual environments for your different python projects so that their package requirements don't clash or make your default python installation messy. Think of a virtual environment as an independent copy of python for a particular project.

Install pip for package management

• http://pip.readthedocs.org/en/latest/installing.html
• If you have multiple versions of Python installed, make sure to run get-pip.py with the python executable of the version you want pip to work with! (e.g. python get-pip.py versus python3 get-pip.y) ** You might decide to install a copy of pip for each python version you have. In that case, whenever you run pip, be aware which pip that command refers to.

Install virtualenv for environment management

(Skip if Python 3.3+) As of Python 3.3, virtual environments are taken care of by a Python module rather than an external package (https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html).

• pip install virtualenv
• Usage: http://virtualenv.readthedocs.org/en/latest/virtualenv.html#usage
• You can also install virtualenvwrapper for convenience
  • http://virtualenvwrapper.readthedocs.org/en/latest/
  • Windows: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenvwrapper-powershell/2.7.1