Python Installation
Operating systems, Like MacOS and Linux, come with a system Python. System Python is the version of Python that is pre-installed in your operating system. Pre-installed Python may not be a full Python installation. It is always out of date. Typically, Windows systems do not come with Python pre-installed. It is easy to install a Python environment on your Windows system.
Open a browser and open the Google search window. Search for ‘download python’. You will see the ‘python.org’ download link in the search result.
Just click and open the Python download page as shown below. To install the latest version for Windows, click on the download python button. Scroll down and select the appropriate Python installer for your system. If your system uses a 32-bit operating system, click and download the win-32-bit Python installer. In case you use the 64-bit operating system, download the 64-bit installer.
(If you are not sure, open the control panel then System and Security, and then click on System. You can check the system type: whether it is 64-bit or 32-bit.)
Once the appropriate installer is downloaded, go to downloads, and double-click on the installer to run it. The installation window will pop up as shown below.
Before you click ‘Install now’, check the box “Add python 3. x to PATH”. This ensures that the installer places the interpreter in the execution path. Then click on “Install Now”. Within a few seconds, Python will get installed.
To check the proper installation. Type in the Search box on the taskbar “cmd’. That will open the Windows command prompt. Type here, ‘python’, and hit enter key. It will show you the installed Python version as shown below. This means you installed python properly. If Python is not installed properly, you will see a message like: “Python is not recognized ……”.
Python IDLE
Another way is to open IDLE. IDLE is ‘Interactive Development Environment’. To Open IDLE, click o the start menu and locate the IDLE (3.x). When you open IDLE you can see the version of the installed python. The “>>>” symbol is called a Python shell prompt. You can write your Python code here and get your code executed by hitting an enter key. IDLE allows you to type in Python code and execute it.
We can use IDLE and Windows command prompt as calculator. For example, you can type 4+5 and press an enter key to see the result of the addition. If you want to write Python code, just type.
print (“Hello World”)
and press the enter key. The code will get executed and it will print.
Hello World.
This way you have written your first Python program. Congratulations!
Installing Jupyter Notebook
To write and execute your Python programs you need one more application i.e., Jupyter notebook. Jupyter Notebook is an open-source web-based IDE. (Interactive Development Environment). Jupyter Notebook allows you to write Python code and execute it.
You can use jupyter notebook to create and share documents that contain live code. Live code is a “built once run everywhere.” Codebase. You can run that code on any platform. Jupyter notebook is primarily used by data analysts and data scientists.
It is because Jupyter Notebook allows you to write code, and rich text elements ( formatted text) like, tables, figures, equations plots, links, etc. in a single document.
pip install
There is a simple way to install jupyter notebook. Just go to windows command prompt and write
>>>pip install jupyter
Just run this command by pressing the enter key. This will install jupyter notebook on your system. This requires an internet connection so make sure your computer is connected to the internet.
Pip is a command line utility, a python package manager. Using pip (Preferred Installer Program) you can install and manage python packages and libraries. It is included by default in python 3.4 or later versions.
Within a few seconds jupyter notebook will get installed. To run the notebook to command and type the following command.
>>>python -m notebook
Or
>>>jupyter notebook
This will open new jupyter notebook in a browser window. You now click on python 3 button. This will open ready to use notebook containing cells. In these cells you can write python code and execute code by pressing Run button. You can use Shift + Enter keys.
For example, type in the cell
>>>2+5
>>>7
Now write small python program like this,
>>>print (“Hello World”)
and run this cell. You will see the output.
>>>Hello World.
This way you can setup your python environment.
