Installing Python

Quick reference

• 00:05 Okay, in this video,
• 00:05 we're going to start to download the tools that we need for the course.
• 00:08 Now luckily we only need a couple of tools to do data analysis with Python, so
• 00:12 this is going to be pretty easy.
• 00:13 In this video, we're going to go ahead and download Python itself.
• 00:16 So head over to python.org.
• 00:20 And this is the official website of Python.
• 00:23 And just hover on this Download link.
• 00:26 Now I'm on a Windows computer, hopefully you are too.
• 00:28 If you're on Mac or Linux, it will show up as Mac or Linux download right here.
• 00:33 But the Python website knows I'm on a Windows computer, so
• 00:36 it's giving me the Windows download.
• 00:38 And you'll notice it's Python 3.8.1, that's the version we're currently on.
• 00:43 Now if this number changes by the time you watch this video, if it's a higher number,
• 00:47 Python 3.8.4, Python 3.9, whatever, any higher number, that's okay.
• 00:53 Just go ahead and download the latest version,
• 00:55 whatever is listed here is the version that you want.
• 00:59 So we can go ahead and click the Download button.
• 01:01 Now it's going to ask us to save this file,
• 01:03 and we can save this anywhere we want.
• 01:06 I'm just going to save it to my desktop, so I'll click Save.
• 01:08 And I've actually already got it on my desktop, so I'll click Yes.
• 01:13 And now I'm on the Firefox web browser, so
• 01:15 you see up here in the top right hand corner there's this little blue arrow?
• 01:19 That's where my downloads are.
• 01:21 If you're on the Chrome web browser,
• 01:22 it's going to be down here in the lower left hand corner.
• 01:24 Whatever web browser you're using, just go ahead and click the download,
• 01:27 and you can see it pops-up.
• 01:30 And here we go, this is the Python installation wizard screen.
• 01:34 Now, before we go forward, there's something very, very important.
• 01:38 This little box right here,
• 01:39 it says Add Python 3.8 to PATH, and you'll notice it's unchecked by default.
• 01:44 We absolutely have to make sure that this little box gets checked,
• 01:48 because we want to add Python to our Windows PATH.
• 01:51 And what that means is, when we add it to our PATH,
• 01:54 Python can run from anywhere on our computer.
• 01:57 So that's very important, that's what we want.
• 01:59 Otherwise Python can only run inside the Python directory, and
• 02:03 that's no good at all.
• 02:04 So after that's done, you can click this Install Now button.
• 02:07 Now before we do that, you'll notice right here it says 32-bit.
• 02:13 And chances are you have a 64-bit computer, or
• 02:15 everybody has a 64-bit computer these days.
• 02:17 So you might be thinking, well,
• 02:18 wait a second, don't I need the 64-bit version of Python?
• 02:22 And no, you want the 32-bit, this is the default version.
• 02:25 That's the one that they're suggesting we download,
• 02:28 that's the default one they show you on the website.
• 02:30 There is a 64-bit version, but you really don't want that one, you want the 32-bit.
• 02:34 So just go ahead and download and install that one now.
• 02:37 I'm not going to click this button right here,
• 02:39 Install Now, because I've already installed Python on my computer.
• 02:42 But you'll go ahead and click this button to install it.
• 02:44 And a little window will pop up with a taskbar that shows you the progress of
• 02:48 the installation.
• 02:49 So go ahead and wait until it finishes doing its thing.
• 02:53 And then you can close out of that and you're good to go.
• 02:55 And that's really all there is to installing Python on Windows.
• 02:59 Now, if you've already installed Python in the past,
• 03:02 I might recommend that you redo this, do this anyway.
• 03:04 Because chances are if you weren't paying attention the last time you installed it,
• 03:08 you might have missed this little Add Python to PATH thing down here, and
• 03:13 we really want this checked.
• 03:14 So you might as well just reinstall it, if that's the case.
• 03:17 If you're on a Mac or Linux computer, chances are it has an older version
• 03:21 of Python, so you're going to want to update that.
• 03:23 You can Google how to do that fairly easy, so I'll leave that up to you.
• 03:27 So that's all there is to installing Python, super easy, super quick.
• 03:30 In the next video we'll go ahead and download and install the Git BASH
• 03:34 terminal, it's a terminal that will allow us to run commands on our computer.
• 03:38 And that'll be coming up in the next video.

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