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Visual Studio Code

To write, modify and execute Python code, we use Visual Studio Code (VSCode).

What is it?

VSCode is a popular source-code editor by Microsoft. It is available for Windows, Linux and macOS and comes with the following features (and more):

  • Support for many popular programming and markup languages: C++, Fortran, JavaScript, Python, Julia, Markdown, HTML, ... (built-in or via extensions)
  • Syntax highlighting, bracket matching, code folding
  • Intelligent code completion (auto-completion popups while typing)
  • Support for debugging
  • Version control (needs link to a version control system such as Git)
  • Possibilities to change the theme, keyboard shortcuts, preferences, and install extensions that add functionality
  • Telemetry: Collects usage data and sends it to Microsoft (can be disabled)

Is it open-source?

The source code for VSCode is fully open-source (and released under a MIT license), but the binaries that you download from Microsoft are not. With VSCodium you could also download a truly open-source binary distribution of VSCode, which is freely licensed and has telemetry disabled. This is basically the same as but more convenient than building from source by yourself.

Installation

Download and execute the installer for VSCode from here.

Open VSCode and install the Python and Jupyter extensions for VSCode, see here.

Command line essentials

In VSCode, there is a command line ("terminal", "prompt", "shell"), usually at the bottom. This can be a Windows PowerShell or the "classic" cmd command prompt or "Bash" (Unix shell). For a comprehensive overview of commands see the Windows Commands Reference or the Guide to Unix commands. Some commands related to navigation in your directory (folder) structure will be useful (here for Windows; Unix commands in italic if they differ):

Command Operation
dir (Unix: ls) List files and subdirectories in the current directory.
tree Displays the directory structure of a path or of the disk.
cd FOLDER_NAME "Change directory": Move to a folder within your current folder.
cd PATH_TO_YOUR_FOLDER_AND_NAME Move to a folder at any path.
cd .. Move to parent directory (i.e. one level up).

Use these commands to move to your working directory, where you save your scripts (Hint: Try the 'Tab' key to auto-complete folder or file names).

Some other useful commands are related to file handling:

Command Operation
mkdir DIRECTORY Creates a directory or subdirectory
rd DIRECTORY /s Deletes a directory including all its files.
copy FILE FOLDER Copies one or more files from one location to another.
rename SRC DES Renames files or directories.
del FILE (Unix: rm FILE) Delete one or more files.

Next: Conda

Continue with Python installation and package management using Conda here.