Setup – CIDS Python Workshop

Local Setup

The local setup involves installing several things:

Python
Git
VSCode
VSCode Python & Jupyter extensions
Python Packages

You may be able to skip installing git if you already have it installed from the git workshop

The full setup instructions are: Python

Navigate to the website https://www.python.org/downloads/ with your web browser.
Download Python 3.13 (3.13.7 is fine) for your operating system
Run the installer, following all prompts using the default settings Git
Navigate to the website https://git-scm.com/downloads with your web browser
Download git for your operating system
Run the installer, following all prompts using the default settings
VSCode
Navigate to the website https://code.visualstudio.com/ with your web browser.
Download Visual Studio Code for your specific platform/Operating System.
Run the Visual Studio Code Installer and follow all prompts.
Open Visual Studio Code, navigate to the File Explorer and clone this repository with the following repository name https://github.com/CurtinIDS/CIDS_Carpentries_Python into your preferred folder destination.
Navigate to the Extension sidebar then search for and install the Python and Jupyter extensions.
Enter the Visual Studio Code Command Pallette using Ctrl + Shift + P (Windows) or Command + Shift + P (MacOS) and locate Python: Create Environment.
Select venv.
Select Python 3.13. (the version you just installed)
When asked to “Select dependencies to install”, click the box next to requirements.txt and click “ok”

You should now be done!

ONLY if you didn’t do the step above when creating the virtual environment (venv):

Open Command Prompt or Terminal within Visual Studio Code using Ctrl + J (Windows) or Command + J (MacOS). Make sure the “Terminal” tab is selected, and you’re in the previously cloned directory
Activate the created environment using the following command. Windows 11 (powershell): .\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
Mac/Linux: source ./venv/bin/activate
Run the following command to install dependencies while in the activated environment. pip install -r requirements.txt

Google Colab

If you were unable to complete the above steps, you may alternatively access the workshop material using Google Colaboratory (colab) as an emergency measure. Please ensure that you have a Google Account.