How to Install Python in Windows 7 or MacOS
A master piece guide on how to install Python in Windows 7. Python is the most requested programming language in 2022 in the TIOBE ranking. It has a fairly simple and clear syntax, so learning this language is not difficult. Where to start studying it? Of course, first of all, you need to install Python on your computer and learn how to run programs written in this programming language. That is what we will talk about in today’s article.
How to Download Python and Choose a Version
You may immediately have a question: how to install Python in Windows 7 and why download and install Python on your computer at all if there are many different online interpreters? Indeed, there are a lot of online interpreters, but they are more suitable for testing the simplest programs, and they are not enough for full-fledged work with Python tools. That is why it is worth installing Python on your computer.
The first step of how to install Python in Windows 7 is to download the Python installer from the official website. We do not recommend downloading the installer from other resources – this way you can easily pick up viruses. Use only the official site.
What about the version needed in the process of how to install Python in Windows 7? There are many different versions of Python, and developers never stop arguing about which one is better. However, if you plan to work in IT in the future, choosing the latest version of Python is better. In our example, we will download the latest version at the time of writing – 3.
On the Downloads page of the official site, you will see a big yellow button “Download Python 3.10.6”. To download the Python installer, you need to click on it.
How to install Python
Now let’s figure out how to install Python in Windows 7 and other different operating systems.
Windows
How to install Python on Windows 10? First, run the installer you downloaded earlier. After that, the following window will appear on the screen:
Click Install Now and allow the app to make changes to the device. Wait while the required packages are installed. After the installation is complete, the following window should appear, which will report the successful installation of Python:
How to check that you did everything correctly and Python is installed correctly? To do this, open the command prompt using the Win + R key combination, type cmd in the window that appears, and press OK (or the Enter key):
Now, in the command prompt that opens, type py or python and press Enter. If the installation went well, then you will see the Python version and build number on the command line, and Python will offer several options for getting to know yourself.
If you only want to know the version of Python, type the py –version on the command line. If installed correctly, you will see the current version of the language on the screen.
How to install Python on Windows 7?
For earlier versions of Windows, you can install Python following the same instructions, since there will be no fundamental differences in the installation.
MacOS
Installing Python on MacOS is a little different. First, install Homebrew, which is a free, open-source system for managing software projects. It will simplify the installation of software on MacOS. To install it, type the following command in the terminal:
Brew install python3
To check that the installation of Python went well, in the terminal you need to write:
Python3 –version
As a result, you should receive a message with the version of Python installed.
How to get started with Python
We have installed Python, but so far it can only work through the command line. For beginners, this method is not very convenient, since to run the program you will need to write on the command line:
py <full file name> – for Windows;
python <full filename> – for MacOS.
The file’s full name means the full path to the file (that is, the drive, folder, and name of the file itself).
For example, consider a program that prints “Hello, world!” on the screen. Let’s write it to the file hello.py, which we will save on disk D . Now, to run this file, you need to write the following line in the command line or terminal:
py D:\hello.py – for Windows;
python D:\hello.py – for MacOS.
The result of the work will be the string “Hello, world!” Displayed on the screen.
Because of such inconveniences, an IDE is usually installed along with Python – a Python program development environment. It is more convenient to write code, run and debug it. You can also quite simply save the written program by clicking on the appropriate button. Let’s see how to install such software using Visual Studio Code as an example.
Installing and Connecting Visual Studio Code
To install the editor, you need to go to the official website. On the main page, you need to click on the arrow next to the big blue button, select your operating system, and click on the blue arrow to download the installer.
After downloading the program, you need to run the installer and follow the instructions: accept the agreement, select the installation folder (you can leave the default folder), check all the boxes, and click the “Install” button. Once the installation is complete, check the “Open Visual Studio Code” box to launch Visual Studio Code immediately.
To make it easier to work with the editor, set the Russian language. To do this, click on the bottom icon with cubes in the menu on the left and enter Russian in the search bar :
Install the first package. To do this, click the blue Install button. After installation, you will need to restart the editor, for this, you need to click the Restart button in the lower left corner.
Now it will be easier to navigate in the editor! To work with Python files, you need to teach Visual Studio Code to understand and run them. Click on the same icon and type tag: debuggers @sort: installs in the search bar. In the search results, you need to find Python and click on the “Install” button:
Do the same to install syntax highlighting: type ext: py in the search box and install the MagicPython extension. Highlighting is needed for a comfortable visual perception of various pieces of code. After installing all required extensions, restart Visual Studio Code.
Now, for example, open the hello.py file and run it. To do this, select “File” in the upper left corner and click “Open file …”.
After opening the file, you need to run it. To do this, press the F5 key or select “Run” from the top menu and click “Start Debugging”. In the pop-up window, you need to choose what to work with, in our case, it is a “Python file”.
As a result, we managed to install a code editor with syntax highlighting, in which you can easily create files, edit and run code, and also get the result of its work.
If you want to get even closer to this wonderful programming language and learn how to write programs of different levels of complexity, then come to the Python courses at the Skysmart Pro online school! Master the art of how to install Python in Windows 7 first.