Installing Python

• Navigate to python.org
• Mouse over “Downloads” and then choose your OS
• Download the latest stable version that will work on your system. Anything 3.8 and beyond should be fine for this class.
• Run the installer. On the first screen, click the bottom box! The the rest of the installation can go with the default options.
• Once done, you can test that everything went well by trying to launch IDLE.

Installing VSCode

• Navigate to here
• The landing page will automatically detect your OS and offer you the correct download on the left side of the page. Go ahead and download it.
• Run the installer, selecting all the default options.

Configuring VSCode

• Launch VSCode
• Click the extensions button on the far left of the screen, which looks like 3 small boxes with a 4th flying away
• The Python extension may show up under the initial “Popular” listings, but if not, search for python in the bar at the top. Click the blue “Install” button next to the extension.
• Close the Jupyter tab that likely opened upon the conclusion of the installation.
• In the other tab that opened, select the interpreter option, and then choose the Python install that you just installed earlier. Then you can close out of that tab.
• Click the gear in the bottom left and then choose settings.
• In the search bar at the top of the settings screen, search for “python dir execute” and then click the box of the only option that shows up. Then you can close the settings screen.
• If you do not already have a terminal open at the bottom of the screen, click the terminal menu at the top of the screen and then select “New Terminal”
• Click in the terminal that opens at the bottom of the screen, and then type pip install pillow pytest, then press enter. Several progress bars should proceed as Pip installs the necessary Python libraries. (Note! If on macOS, try using pip3 install pillow pytest if the above doesn’t initially work.)
• Then you are done, and you should be good to go!

Ensuring everything works alongside GitHub Classroom

• If you don’t already have a GitHub account, sign up for one of those first. The process is very straightforward, and you are just looking for the free account.
• Follow the link here to accept the first practice assignment. (You will get participation credit for doing this!)
• Download the zip file of the repository contents
• Unzip the folder
• Open VSCode, and then open the folder inside VSCode
• Run the test_karel.py program to A) ensure that it actually runs correctly, and B) to observe which intersection Karel ends up at after pressing the blue play button in the Karel window.
• Open the Info.txt file, and fill in all your answers to the questions, replacing the text within the angle brackets < >
• Save the Info.txt file, not changing its name.
• Back in your online repository, click “Add File” followed by “Upload file”
• Drag your Info.txt file over into the window, or click the link and select it through the file picker.
• Give your upload a descriptive name. Perhaps something like: “Completed all questions.”
• Then press “Commit”, and you are done!