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Installing Python
The latest version of the base python programming compatible with your OS can be found at https://www.python.org/downloads/. Once downloaded simply run the install wizard to set python up on your machine.
Python comes packaged as standard with its very own UI/IDE IDLE. This can be used as a terminal in which line commands can be executed or to write scripts which can be run from the shell.
After downloading and installing python you may find that it is not automatically available for execution from the top level of cmd. Instead you must navigate to the folder containing the executable file on your disk to access it using the command line. A quick way to check if you can access python from the top level of cmd is to simply check the version of python using
python -V
this should return the version of the software you installed. If an error message is returned then you need to add python to your PATH. Whilst this might not seem like a problem straight away since you can already interact with the software using the IDLE GUI, it does become apparent when wanting to use PIP to install packages.
In order to add python to your PATH first enter your PC's control panel. From there you want to go into 'System and Security' and then 'System', once there you should find 'Advanced system settings'. After opening these settings a new window will appear in which contained within the 'Advanced' tab you should find the 'Environment Variables...' button. Clicking this will once again open a new window containing two panels, we want to make an entry into the 'User variables' panel so select the 'New...' button beneath it. A new window should appear allowing you to define a new user variable. For the new variable name simply enter 'Path' and for the variable value enter the address of the directory containing the python executable file and the 'Scripts' sub-directory. Click the 'OK' button and that should be the process complete.
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