Basic Development Tools#

In this section we will install the basic tools needed to develop a serious Python application. For now, I will show how I install things on my Macbook. As the project progresses, I will add notes covering both Windows and Linix

Mac Installation#

All of the tools mentioned in this section are installed system-wide, meaning they are available for use on any project you start. Python applications may need additional tools on a per-project basis. These will be installed in a Python Virtual Environment we set up in the development section of these notes.

XCode /Command Line Tools#

Although it is not strictly needed for Python development work, there are many handy supporting tools available to Mac users by installing XCode.

XCode can be installed fro the Mac Store. Be warned that XCode is huge, so downloading it will take a while!

Once the installation is complete, open up the program (from the Applications directory) and check the version you have by navigating to XCode->About XCode.

Next, you will also need to install the command-line tools. This is done by opening up XCode and navigating to the XCode->Open Developer Tool->More Developer Tools and selecting the version of the Command Line Tools that matches your XCode version.

Homebrew#

Many of the tools I use can be installed easily using a program known as Homebrew. You install this program on your system by running this comamnd:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Once this command completes, check the program by running this command (leave off the leading exclamation point shown here. That is needed to get Jupyter to run system commands in this page):

!brew --version

Homebrew 3.6.12

Homebrew/homebrew-core (git revision e6ab9a23731; last commit 2022-11-23)

Homebrew/homebrew-cask (git revision 0ba6a17315; last commit 2022-11-23)

Python#

Obviously we need a recent version of Python. Mac systems have an older version of Python installed by default, but we will work with a newer version. At the time of this writing, Python version 3.11 has been released, but not all of the tools I use are ready for that version. For that reason, I will install Python 3.10.8 for this project:

Homebrew will not install a program that is already in place on your system. The output from this command can be a bit verbose, so I will just show the command here:

brew install python@3.10

Git#

Git is simple to install using (Homebrew*:

brew install git

Learning how to use both Git and Github is worth spending some of your time. Here is one of many tutorials to help you get started: Git and Github for Beginners

Programmer’s Editor#

Picking an editor for your work is a highly personal choice. Since I often work on the command-line on remote servers, I have used an editor called Vim for more years than I can count. THe version of this program for the Mac is installed on all of my Mac systems:

brew install --cask macvim

This command actually installs both a command-line version of the program that you can launch using the program name vim, and a standard graphical version you launch like any normal application from the Application menu. The –cask option installs both versions.

Windows 11 Installation#

I have given up my older Windows versions, and have installed Windows 11 on my development PC. Setting that system up is more complex than on the Mac. Instead of Homebrew, I use a similar tool called Chocolatey. Unfortunately, installing this tool is a bit difficult since it needs Microsoft’s super shell tool: PowerShell. It is possible to avoid this and just use the installation packages for Windows available from the project web sites, but I prefer to use a better management tool.

Powershell#

To install PowerShell on your PC, you need to download the program from the Microsoft website. Windows 11 provides aprogram that makes this process easier:

winget install --id Microsoft.Powershell --source winget

Once this command completes, you should find PowerShell in your list of installed applications. You can launch is like any other Windows programs.

To install Chocolatey, you need to run the Administrative Shell version of the program.

With the PowerShell window open, enter this annoying command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'### Python

Believe it or not, that command is all on one line. I highly recommend copy and paste to get it right! This will install the Chocolatey tool

Python#

You can search for a package using this command:

choco search python3

This should display a list of available versions of Python. We install it using this command:

choco install python --version=3.10.8

Git#

Git can be install in a similar manner:

choco install git

Here, we just get the latest available version.

Programmer’s Editor#

Linux Installation#

There are many versions of Linux available for PC hardware, and even for tiny machines like the *Raspberry Pi. I normally use the Ubuntu distribution, and my students have successfully run that operating system inside Virtual Machines on their Windows computers. The newer releases of Windows support something called Windows Subsystem for LInux (WSL) which lets you install Ubuntu or another Linux versions directly into your Windows environment. You open up a window that will run just like a normal Linux machine.

I will not show that setup here. Instead, I am assuming that you have a computer with the latest version of Ubuntu installed, and know how to get to a command-line.