Setting up the Development Environment

7.1 Downloading PyCharm

To write programs you need to write programs. There's some logic in that quote. But before you can start writing programs, you need to install the IDE (PyCharm), set up the Python SDK, and create your first project. Let's start there.

Step 1. To install PyCharm, you first need to download it. Just Google PyCharm or simply go to this link. You should see a pretty picture like this:

Step 2. Go ahead and click the “Download” button and scroll down a bit to the free version PyCharm Community Edition:

Step 3. Your operating system should be auto-detected. But if it's not, you can switch it manually at the top of the page.

7.2 Installing PyCharm

After you've downloaded the right version of PyCharm, you need to install it. Here are a few key steps:

Step 1. Run the installer – you should see a window like this:

Step 2. Add a couple of checkmarks, like I did:

Step 3. No need to reboot anything.

7.3 Creating Your First Project

After installing PyCharm, all that's left is to open it and create your first project. Here's how:

Step 1. Launch PyCharm. You should see a window like this:

Step 2. Create a new project: click on New Project

You'll need to do 4 things:

1. Choose a name for your first project (Name field).
2. Specify a folder for your first project (Location field). If PyCharm suggests the Admin folder by default, it's better to change it. It will save you from some trouble later.
3. Let's check the Create a welcome script box so that PyCharm creates our first file with some code already in it.
4. Choose the Python version. I recommend going with the latest one. Mine is 3.12.3. Select it, and PyCharm will download it for you and put it in the right place.

Here's what I got:

Step 3. Python is being downloaded and installed

Step 4. If you've done everything right, you should see an image like this: