Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trial
Lee Preslan
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 1,273 PointsEssential Tools for a Python Beginner
Hello everyone. I am brand new to Python programming. I have been doing a lot of reading on Python tools that are out there and I am overwhelmed. What are the essential tools for Python programming so I can practice Python? Also, is there a resource out there that would go into detail on what each tool is used for? Thank you.
2 Answers
Henrik Christensen
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 38,322 PointsYou only need two things to work with python on your own computer:
- Python
- A text editor
A couple of examples of text editors:
- Atom.io
- Visual Studio Code
- PyCharm (IDE)
Ari Misha
19,323 PointsHiya there! I'll link you to 3 important tools that you'll need as a beginner for Python. Im assuming here that you already have Python and pip installed on your machine. You can easily check that out with python --version and pip -V in your command line.
Code Editor : I'd highly suggest you to practice codes in your local code editors right from the start. I'll link you to few Code editors here which are super popular , totally free and fun to use. My fave is Pycharm. Please go for PyCharm community version only. The other IDEs are Sublime Text 3, Atom by GitHub and VS Code.
Git : I'd also highly suggest you to start out with versioning control. And Git is best out there. Download Git here, and configure your terminal for git. Check out the instructions for it right here. You can also check out GitHub Desktop app for managing your code on GitHub. Although IDEs like PyCharm and Atom comes pre-configured with VCS for git.
Heroku : I might say this is optional as a beginner but you should have heroku configured on your machine for deploying your code. You can find heroku cli belt here.
NPM : Okay this might be irrelevant but in future you'll be integrating third party libraries which might need npm installed on your local machine. So install this on your machine and just enjoy coding. you can find the link here