• Windows: Windows 10 or later.  Mac: OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8) or later
• Visual Studio Code  (Installation instructions below)
  • Recommended. However, you may use a different editor.
• Python (Installation instructions below)
• Node.js (only for Python Data Analysis with JupyterLab course)

1. Create a new folder named Webucator on your computer wherever you want, but make sure you remember where it is.
2. Download the appropriate class files (if you don't already have them, you can get them at the bottom of this page) and unzip them into the Webucator folder:
   
3. This will create a ClassFiles folder in the Webucator folder. Rename the ClassFiles folder Python. The structure should look something like this:
   
   * The highlighted folders are in the Advanced Python course.

Visual Studio Code

(You can use any editor that you like; however, if you don't have a preference, we recommend Visual Studio Code.)

1. Download Visual Studio Code for your operating system.
2. Install Visual Studio Code:
   1. Instructions for Windows: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/windows 
   2. Instructions for Mac: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/mac 
3. Create a folder somewhere on your computer for storing Visual Studio Code workspaces. Name the folder vs-code-workspaces or something similar.
4. Open Visual Studio Code.
5. From the File menu, select Save Workspace As…
   
6. Save the workspace as Webucator within the workspaces folder you created earlier:
   
7. If Visual Studio Code’s Explorer panel isn’t open, open it by clicking the files icon in the upper left. Then click the Add Folder button:
   
8. Select the Python folder and click Add:
   
9. You will now see the Python folder in Visual Studio Code’s Explorer panel:
   

The Python Extension

Visual Studio Code has many freely available extensions for different programming languages. Python developers should install Microsoft’s Python extension. As shown in the screenshot that follow:

1. Click the Extensions icon (below the bug) on the left of the Explorer panel.
2. Search for “Python”.
3. If it doesn’t show that the extension is already installed, click the Install button.

Visual Studio Code Color Themes

You can customize the Visual Studio Code color theme by selecting File > Preferences > Color Theme. The default is a dark theme. We use a light theme for our screenshots.

Installing Python

First, check if you have Python 3 installed already.

1. Open a command prompt or terminal and run python -V. It should return the version (e.g. Python 3.10.1)
2. If you get a response saying "command not found" or "'python' is not recognized" or it shows that you have a version of Python 2 installed, try running python3 -V.

If you have Python 3.8 or later, you are all set. However, you still may wish to upgrade to the latest version.

If you do not have Python 3.8 or later installed (or wish to upgrade to the latest version), download it for free at https://www.python.org/downloads. After running through the installer, run python -V at the terminal again to make sure Python installed correctly.

Administrative Privileges

To get the most out of the class, students should have administrative privileges on their computers. Among other things, they will need to be able to: 

1. Create virtual environments using venv (https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html).
2. Access external APIs (specifically, OpenWeatherMap's https://openweathermap.org/api).
3. Download Python modules via pip (https://pypi.org/).

Node.js

For the Python Data Analysis with JupyterLab course, you will also need to have Node.js installed. Download it here.