Since Most PCs and Macs come with Python pre-installed, you can check if you have Python installed by opening a terminal and entering:
bashpython --version
If you have Python installed, your output would look like this:
bashPython 3.12.3
If your output does not look like that, you can download Python for free by going to Python and clicking the download button.
Using An IDE For Python
To be able to run Python code on your PC or Mac, you will want to have an IDE.
An IDE stands for integrated development environment, which is an application that makes developing code more efficient.
One of the most popular IDE’s for programming is Visual Studio Code.
The reason why Visual Studio Code is so popular stems from its lightweight capabilities and wide collection of extensions. Another great feature of Visual Studio Code is that it’s completely free.
Installing Visual Studio Code With Python Extension
To install Visual Studio Code, go to Visual Studio Code and click the download button that matches with your computer type.
Once the download completes, it will prompt you with a series of configurations, and you can select the default options for them all, but you can change settings if your prefer.
Once the installation and configuration is complete, go on the Visual Studio Code app, then go to the extensions tab and search “Python”. Click on the first result that shows up and click “install”.
To test if everything was done properly, go to the explorer tab and create a file with a .py extension, like “testing.py”. Then, enter the following line of code in the file:
pythonprint("Hello, World")
If everything was done correctly, your output will look like this:
pythonHello, World
Now, you are able to start programming in Visual Studio Code with Python!