Installation

For this course you need to install two programs: Python and Visual Studio Code. In this chapter you find installation instructions for both.

Install Python

Download Python 3.13 from www.python.org/downloads/ . Follow the installation instructions for your operating system.

Hint

On Windows, make sure to check the box “Add Python to PATH”:

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Test the installation

  1. open a terminal (bash, zsh or PowerShell).

  2. type python and press ENTER

You should see the Python prompt >>> and the version of your Python installation.

Install Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a lightweight but powerful editor that supports debugging, syntax highlighting and comes with extensions for most programming languages, including Python.

Download VS Code from code.visualstudio.com/download . Run the installer and use the standard options.

Install the Python extension for VS Code

  1. open VS Code.

  2. Press Ctrl + Shift + X to open the extensions panel (or press the button showing four squares on the left).

  3. search for python and install the official extension by Microsoft.

VS Code should be able to find an installed Python interpreter most of the time. If the extension finds Python, you should see a Python version (e.g. 3.13.3) in the bottom right corner of the window. If not, click the field on the bottom right to select a Python version manually.

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Test Python in VS Code

The final step is to test whether Python is really working.

1. create a new file in VS Code (with Ctrl + n or the menu) and save it with the name hello.py. Make sure that there is nothing after the .py in the file name. 2. instert the line: print("hello world") 3. click the Run button (▶️) at the top right.

A terminal should open at the bottom, showing the output of the program. If you see hello world” in the terminal, everything has worked. Congratulations!