Python Beginnings

Searching for employment can be an interesting process. You will run across many different listings an opportunities in the field. Navigating those prospective landing spots can be exciting and daunting. While perusing possibilities, I came across an entry level position that I was extremely excited about. After stressing over my application and doing my best to make sure that everything was in order, I submitted my entry to the ether. After a few days I was excited to see that I got a response and was prompted to take a quick code test in whatever language I was comfortable with. I eagerly clicked the link to take a practice test only to find that the languages that I am currently most with (JavaScript and Ruby) were not options. That being the case, I decided that I had no choice but to do a quick dive into Python. The first step to coding in python, is to get it downloaded and setup to use with your text editor of choice. I will briefly run through the steps that it took me to get python up and running. (please note: I am personally using a Windows machine and VS code as my text editor, the following is specific to those contingencies)

Getting Started- the first dependencies to get everything going is making sure that you have Python and VS code downloaded on your computer. The download page for Python can be found here while the link to Visual Studio Code is available here.

Download Python Extension- Once VS code is downloaded and open on your computer, click on the extensions icon as picture below (alternatively the shortcut ‘Control + Shift + X’) and search for “Python” in the marketplace.

The extension that you want to download should be listed first and is published by Microsoft.

Verify Python Instillation- The official VS code docs recommend that you check and make sure that you have python on your by command prompt or terminal by running the command ‘py -3 -V’. If you have python on your computer, this should return the version that you have installed.

Create and Start a Python Project- Still in the terminal the easiest way to start a Python project in VS code is to cd into a directory that you want to use and create a new directory. The commands that you would use to do this once you navigate to a directory that you want to use is “mkdir ‘[new directory name here]’”, followed by “cd ‘[name that you chose in previous line]’”, and finally “code .”. Running these commands should open your VS code application in a new folder.